Nihonbashi

Scenic spots on Central Avenue, Central District, Tokyo, Japan

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Nihonbashi (にほんばし) is located at Tokyo Station Nearby, from the Edo era, it is the starting point to connect Donghai Dao. From the existing Ukiyo-e paintings, you can appreciate the prosperity of the past nearby. The Nihon Bridge seen today was completed in 1911, which was the 44th year of Meiji, the last year of Meiji, the year when Japan recovered its tariff autonomy, and the symbolic building for Japan to become a powerful country. The outstretched wings of the bronze unicorn at the bridge head symbolize Meiji Period The rise of Japanese society.^[1]

Chinese name: Nihonbashi
Foreign name: にほんばし
geographical position: Central Avenue, Central District, Tokyo, Japan^[3]
Opening Hours: Open all year round and all day

Famous scenic spot: Nihonbashi - Shimu Building 、 Takashimaya Nihonbashi Store 、 Marushan Nihonbashi Store
Establishment time: 1911
historical significance: The symbol of Japan becoming a powerful country

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brief introduction

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The Nihonbashi Bridge (にほんばセししし/Nihonbashi/Nihombashi) is built on the Nihonbashi River in the north of the Central District. This bridge was built in the 17th century Tokugawa Edo Period At the starting point of the five completed streets, there is a bronze marker of the "National Road of Japan", which is the base point of all roads in Japan.

In the Nihonbashi area adjacent to Ginza, in addition to large department stores, there are also many hundred year old stores inherited from the Edo era. Before the Kanto earthquake (1923), there was a river bank where fish products were traded. It had a history of prosperity as a source of food for Tokyo.

As the name of the bridge, "Nihonbashi" is a bridge across "Nihonbashi" in the central district of Tokyo, Japan Tokyo Metropolitan The regional "road meta standard" is the starting point of Japan's road network; As a place name, "Nihonbashi" is the regional street name of the above bridge generation in the central district of Tokyo Metropolitan. Here, on the financial street represented by the head office of the Bank of Japan and the Tokyo Stock Exchange Takashimaya , Sanyue and other old commercial stores.

Nihonbashi

bridge

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historical background

As a bridge, Nihonbashi spans Nihonbashi in the central district of Tokyo. In 1603 (the 8th year of Qingchang's reign) Edo Bakufu Of Tokugawa Jiakang The plan of building a national road network was put forward, and the Nihonbashi was built at this time. In 1604 (the 9th year of Qingchang's reign), Nihonbashi became the base point of five streets. Meiji Period Later, in order to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Tokyo's move to the capital, the "Green Gate" was built at both ends of Nihonbashi Bird House (Completed in 1898 (Meiji 31). Bird House: a gate often built in front of a Japanese shrine. The Japanese think it is the boundary between the secular world and the divine realm.

Japan Bridge within 53 Times of Tokaido

The first Japanese Bridge was a wooden structure, which only connected two streets, Muromachi and Tongyidimu. This wooden bridge was burned down in the fire. In the hundreds of years since then, it has been repaired and rebuilt for generations, and was rebuilt into a granite double arch stone bridge in 1911 (Meiji 44). The last modification project of Nihonbashi was completed in 1999 (Heisei 11). This is the 19th generation Nihonbashi, and it is listed as an important national cultural property of Japan.

from Edo Period Handed down Ukiyoe Many of them are Japanese Bridge and Mount Fuji. But like other famous "Fuji See" places, with the development of modern society, the line of sight is gradually blocked by high-rise buildings, and the scene that you can see Mount Fuji from afar on the Japan Bridge no longer exists. In addition, during the period of high economic development in the 20th century Tokyo Olympic Games The Capital Expressway, which was built in 1963 (Showa 38), is just above the Nihonbashi. Looking up from the Japan Bridge, it is hard to see the sky. Therefore, residents living near Nihonbashi put forward the idea of changing the expressway to pass through the ground to restore the old Nihonbashi landscape. The former Prime Minister of Japan Junichiro Koizumi Although expressing support Shintaro Ishihara The magistrate objected. The project budget of up to 500 billion yen has caused contradictions between urban landscape construction and administrative issues.

Nihonbashi

Architecture

When designing the Nihon Bridge, Mulaihuang, the wife of the leading figure in the architectural circle at that time, served as an architectural consultant. He proposed a design scheme that integrates bronze materials with Western architectural styles. As we all know, bronze is a common material for ancient Chinese ritual vessels. However, except for Japan Kamakura period We can see the bronze products（ Great Buddha ）In addition, there is no large-scale bronze sculpture. The proposal to use bronze as the material clearly reflects the influence of European bronze sculpture art. In addition, from the design and overall shape of the bridge body, it also highlights the strong European style. This Meiji era building seems to truly represent Japan's strategic thinking of leaving Asia and entering Europe.

However, many contradictions in Japan do not allow us to make such a simple analysis of him. Although the large sculptures on the bridge are bronze sculptures, the themes are unicorns and Tang lions. unicorn It is a legendary mythical beast introduced from China to Japan. With the passage of time, it has successfully integrated into and become a part of Japanese culture. The Kylin in the Meiji era no longer has the flavor of Tang Dynasty, but has become a symbol of Japanese culture that can compete with western culture. However, the Kirin had no wings, while the bronze Kirin of Nihonbashi was pressed on its wings like a winged Persian mythical beast. As mentioned in the novel Kirin's Wings, these wings are endowed with the symbolic meaning of Japan's takeoff in the Meiji era. In addition, the sitting posture of the bronze unicorn is similar to the sitting posture of the western dragon, which is also a highlight of this bridge and its compromise.

Nihonbashi shield lion

The lion statues at both ends of the bridge were created with reference to the sculptures of Nara's Hand to Mountain Bafan Palace 狛 Dog (Tanggu Poodle , introduced from mainland China in the Ping An era). But the lions in the east don't hold shields. At that time, Wife Mu integrated the European shield lion statue with the traditional Tang lion image, and completed the design of the lion statue that now stands at both ends of the bridge. The shield held by the lion became the capital emblem of Tokyo. Such a modern representative building integrating oriental culture and western culture is enough to make the viewer feel that Luming Hall The brilliance of the times, and Meiji Restoration Later, the era of actively introducing western culture^[2] 。

Road unit bid

According to the road law before the war, every city and village in Japan should set up a road marker at the starting point of the road, and the location of the road marker is generally the location of the municipal government, county government and other government agencies. Capital Tokyo City Inherited Edo Period Nihonbashi will be used as the landmark of Tokyo's roads. Although the current Japanese Road Law does not provide for the road logo, there is still a text sign of "Japan Road Logo" in the center of the Nihonbashi, and there are also copies of it on both sides of the bridge. There are 7 national highways starting from Nihonbashi:

National Highway 1 (terminal: Osaka City)

National Highway 4 (destination: Aomori City)

National Highway 6 (terminal point: Sendai City)

National Highway 14 (terminal point: Chiba City)

National Highway 15 (ending at Yokohama)

National Highway 17 (terminal point: Niigata City)

No. 20 National Highway (terminal point: Yanjiri City)

(Note: Among the seven national highways, only National Highway 1 and National Highway 4 actually start from Nihonbashi, and the other roads are the duplicate sections of the two national highways)

As early as in the Edo era, there were rows of shops on both sides of the ancient roads starting from the Nihonbashi. With the development of modern society, famous department stores such as Sanyue and Takashimaya also gather near Nihonbashi.

cultural property

The 19th generation Nihonbashi was designated as an important national cultural property (building) in Japan on May 13, 1999 (Heisei 11). Nihonbashi and Shankou County Jindai Bridge Nagasaki Prefecture The eye bridge of Japan is called "Three Bridges of Japan".

Nihonbashi

However, with the pace of road construction in the Japanese capital, the old landscape of Nihonbashi has been covered by modern roads. In December 2005 (Heisei 17) Waseda University In the activity of "Creating Beautiful Landscapes", represented by Professor Itozi of Nihonbashi, Nihonbashi was selected as one of the "One Hundred Poor Landscapes". The assistant professor of Tohoku University, Ishitaro, objected to the selection with the view that "the capital highway, which symbolizes the high development of civil technology in Japan, is of more historical value than Nihonbashi".

Fish bank

The Fish River Bank beside the Nihon Bridge, on the left side of the Nihon Bridge, was once a fish market. The fish market there was when Tokugawa Kakam entered the government. More than 30 fishermen came here together, and they would pay tribute to the remaining fish for sale here. That is, since then, the fish market in Nihonbashi has been known by people.

Riverside fish market in Nihonbashi

It is difficult to accurately convert the ancient Japanese currency into the current currency value, but according to some data records, in ancient Japan, 1 liang=4000 wen, and the carpenter's daily wage was 86 wen. If you consider this, about 12=200000 yen. The fish market operates for 250 days a year, creating a total value of more than 1500 yen. From this figure, you can imagine what kind of impact the fish market in Nihonbashi in the Edo era had on Japanese food culture.

region

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It was changed from the name of the town in the early days of Showa. After the Kanto earthquake, the Nihonbashi region carried out a comprehensive regionalization and reorganization, and in December 1928 (the third year of Showa) began to implement a large-scale reorganization of the town names.

Night View of Nihonbashi

Historical landmark in the east of Nihonbashi

Original standard of Nihonbashi old highway (1970s)

Kylin column of Nihonbashi

Original bid of Nihonbashi Highway on Capital Expressway (see below)

Original standard of Nihonbashi Highway on Capital Expressway (see above)

Nihonbashi Western Milestone

The central area and most of the northern areas of Nihonbashi are mostly named in the form of "Nihonbashi ○ cho", which was formed when the central area originated. This area originally belonged to Nihonbashi District, but after the war, it merged with Jingqiao District in the south to form the Central District. Before the merger, many members of the Nihonbashi District Council (whose function is equivalent to that of the District Council) objected to the merger and asked to retain the name of Nihonbashi. Therefore, although the merger resolution with Jingqiao District was implemented later, the cho name was still named after Nihonbashi. In this way, although the Central District was established, the names of all towns in the former Nihonbashi District have been preserved. After that, in the regionalization and reorganization implemented in the post-war recovery period and in the residential expression implemented after 1970 (Showa 45), a part of the town names named after Nihonbashi were deleted, and some new town names were added.

Tourism and sightseeing

Nihonbashi 1-3 chome is a place name in the central district of Tokyo Metropolitan, located in the old Nihonbashi area.

・ Geographic location: Southwest of Nihonbashi

・ Rivers and bridges: Nihonbashi, Nihonbashi, Edo Bridge

・ History: In 1973, it was formed by the merger of "Nihonbashi" and "Nihonbashi Edo Bridge"

・ Sightseeing: COREDO Nihonbashi Building, Takashimaya Nihonbashi Store, Marushan Nihonbashi Store

・ Road: Yongdai Road, Edo Road, Zhongyang Road, Bazhong Road

Sanyue Department Store

Sanyue is from Edo Period At the beginning, it has always been in the forefront of [popular] stores. From the entrance of Sanyue Main Hall of Sanyue Station, you can see the Sanyue Main Hall Building.

Mitsukoshi Department Store in Nihonbashi

In 1673, Mitsui High Profit It founded the "Yuehouwu" clothing store, and then gradually developed into the "Sanyue". Because of its unique business methods and carefully made goods, Yuehouwu has gradually gathered popularity and become a large department store.

In the striking 10-year development process of Sanyue, many business means have been created [at the beginning of Japan]. In 1683, Sanyue opened exchange shops, and set up systems such as price marking and cash trading Edo Period People can buy cheaper goods. In 1903, Sanyue started its first home delivery service in Japan. In 1904, it became the first joint-stock company. In 1914, the first escalator in Japan was added. In 1927, it hosted the first fashion exhibition.