The is a river that flows through central

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. It branches from the

Arakawa River or Ara River may refer to: * Arakawa River (Kanto) or Ara River may refer to: * Arakawa River (Kanto), which flows from Saitama Prefecture and through Tokyo to Tokyo Bay * Arakawa River (Uetsu), which flows from Yamagata Prefecture and throu ...

at Iwabuchi (in Kita-ku) and flows into

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...

. Its tributaries include the

Kanda Kanda may refer to: People * Kanda (surname) *Kanda Bongo Man (born 1955), Congolese soukous musician Places * Kanda, Tokyo, an area in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan **Kanda Station (Tokyo), a railway station in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo * Kanda River, a ri ...

and Shakujii rivers. It passes through the Kita, Adachi, Arakawa, Sumida,

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

Kōtō is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward located in Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Kōtō City in English. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 488,632, and a population density of 12,170 pers ...

and Chūō

wards of Tokyo are a special form of municipalities in Japan under the 1947 Local Autonomy Law. They are city-level wards: primary subdivisions of a prefecture with municipal autonomy largely comparable to other forms of municipalities. Although the autono ...

. What is now known as the "Sumida River" was previously the path of the Ara-kawa. Toward the end of the Meiji era, the Ara-kawa was manually diverted to prevent flooding, as the Imperial Palace in Chiyoda is nearby.

Art

Sumida Gawa pottery was named after the Sumida River and was originally manufactured in the

Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temples in Asakusa, as well as various festivals, such as the . History The ...

district near Tokyo by potter Inoue Ryosai I and his son Inoue Ryosai II. In the late 1890s, Ryosai I developed a style of applied figures on a surface with flowing glaze, based on Chinese glazes called "flambe." Sumida pieces could be teapots, ash trays, or vases, and were made for export to the West. Inoue Ryosai III, grandson of Ryosai I, moved the manufacturing site to

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

in 1924, but the pieces continued to be identified as Sumida ware. The pottery has been subject to various myths, such as being manufactured on the make-believe island of Poo, which was washed away by a typhoon, or being manufactured by Korean prisoners of war.Andacht, p. 49 Sandra Andacht wrote in 1987, "Sumida gawa wares have found great popularity with collectors, dealers and investors. The motifs conform to the general Western concepts of what Oriental designs are expected to depict; writhing dragons, Buddhist disciples, mythological and legendary beings and creatures. Thus, these wares are sought after and prices (here in the States) are quite high, even for pieces in less than perfect condition."Andacht, p. 51 File:東都名所永代橋佃沖漁舟-Eitai Bashi Tsukudajima Ryosen MET DP123243.jpg, ''Eitai Bridge and Tsukuda'' –

Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

, 1830 File:Sunset across the Ryogoku bridge from the bank of the Sumida river at Onmagayashi.jpg, ''Sunset across the Ryōgoku bridge from the bank of the Sumida River at Onmayagashi –''

Hokusai , known simply as Hokusai, was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, active as a painter and printmaker. He is best known for the woodblock printing in Japan, woodblock print series ''Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji'', which includes the ...

, 1830 File:100 views edo 103.jpg, ''Senju Great Bridge –'' Hiroshige, 1856 File:100 views edo 034.jpg, ''Night View of the Matsuchiyama and Sam'ya Canal –'' Hiroshige, 1857 File:Sumidagawa-UtagawaHiroshige1881.jpg, ''Bokusui tsutsumi hanazakari no zu –''

Hiroshige III was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who was a student of Utagawa Hiroshige. He was also referred to as . Born , he was given the artistic name Shigemasa. In 1867, after Hiroshige II, a fellow pupil of the original Hiroshige, divorced the master's daug ...

, 1881 File:Night on the Sumida River LACMA M.71.100.73.jpg, Night on the Sumida River –

Kobayashi Kiyochika was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, best known for his colour woodblock prints and newspaper illustrations. His work documents the rapid modernization and Westernization Japan underwent during the Meiji period (1868–1912) and employs a sense of ...

, 1881

Culture

The ''

Noh is a major form of classical Japanese dance-drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Developed by Kan'ami and his son Zeami, it is the oldest major theatre art that is still regularly performed today. Although the terms Noh and ' ...

'' play ''Sumida-gawa'', which the British composer

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

saw while visiting Japan in 1956, inspired him to compose ''

Curlew River ''Curlew River – A Parable for Church Performance'' (Op. 71) is an English music drama, with music by Benjamin Britten to a libretto by William Plomer. The first of Britten's three 'Parables for Church Performance', the work is based on the J ...

'' (1964), a dramatic work based on the story. The

kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought to ...

play, ''Sumida-gawa — Gonichi no Omokage'', is perhaps better known by the title ''Hokaibo'', which is the name of the central character. This stage drama was written by Nakawa Shimesuke, and it was first produced in Osaka in 1784. The play continues to be included in kabuki repertoire in Japan; and it is also performed in the West. It was recreated by the

Heisei Nakamura-za The is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Emeritus Akihito from 8 January 1989 until his abdication on 30 April 2019. The Heisei era started on 8 January 1989, the day after the death of the Emperor Hirohito ...

in the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

Festival in New York in the summer of 2007, with

Nakamura Kanzaburō XVIII , was a Japanese actor active in kabuki, other forms of live theatre, television and commercials. Kanzaburō was a versatile actor whose credits include farce, period pieces and Shin Kabuki. Lineage Kanzaburō was the eighteenth in the line of ...

leading the cast. The Sumida River Fireworks, which are recognized as one of the oldest and most famous firework displays in Japan, are launched from barges across the river between

Ryōgoku is a district in Sumida, Tokyo. It is surrounded by various districts in Sumida, Chūō, and Taitō wards: Yokoami, Midori, Chitose, Higashi Nihonbashi, and Yanagibashi. In 1659, the Ryōgoku Bridge was built, spanning the Sumida River just ...

and

. During summer, a festival is also held at the same time.

Literature

The poet

Matsuo Bashō born then was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative '' haikai no renga'' form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as the greatest ma ...

lived by the Sumida River, alongside the famous banana tree (Japanese: bashō) from which he took his

nom de plume A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

. See, for example, the opening lines of "Records of a Weather Exposed Skeleton," published in ''The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Other Travel Sketches'' (Penguin Classics, 1967). The Sumida River appears in a

haiku is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or se ...

by Issa from 1820:

Bridges

The Sumida runs through Tokyo for 27 kilometers, under 26 bridges spaced at about one bridge per kilometer. Amongst these, the principal ones are: * The Ryōgoku-bashi (

Ryōgoku Bridge The is a bridge in Tokyo built in 1659 spanning the Sumida River just upstream of its confluence with the Kanda River. Its name, meaning "two provinces", came from its joining Edo (the forerunner of Tokyo in Musashi Province) and Shimōsa P ...

), dating from 1932, replaced a bridge built in 1659. This bridge was immortalized many times by

. * The Eitai-bashi (Eitai Bridge), dating from 1924, replaces a bridge built in 1696.Titsingh (1834), p. 415. * The Senju Bridge, dating from 1921, replaced an earlier bridge initially constructed in 1594, which was for a long time the only bridge across the river. * The Sakura Bridge, dating from 1985, linking Sumida Park and Bokutei-dori Avenue. * The Kototoi Bridge, dating from 1928, was reconstructed at the location of the bridge which linked two nearby temples—the Mimeguri-Jinja and the Matsuchiyama-shoden. * The Azuma Bridge, dating from 1931, replaced the bridge which was first built in 1774. This bridge is closest to

Asakusa Station is a railway station in the Asakusa district of Taitō, Tokyo, Japan, operated by Tobu Railway, Tokyo Metro, and Toei Subway. It formed one terminus of the original subway line in Tokyo, now the Ginza Line. Station layout There is a connect ...

and the Kaminari-Mon. * The Komagata Bridge, dating from 1927, takes its name from the Matsugata temple dedicated to Bato-Kanon. * The Umaya Bridge, dating from 1929, replaced a bridge built in 1875. * The Kuramae-bashi, built in 1924. * The Shin Ohashi (New Bridge), dating from 1976, replaced a bridge built in 1693. This bridge was not far from the Ryōgoku Bridge. * The Kiyosu Bridge, built in 1928 after the model of the

Deutz Suspension Bridge The Deutz Suspension Bridge (german: Deutzer Hängebrücke) was a self-anchored suspension bridge using eyebar chains, located across the Rhine at Deutz in Cologne, Germany. It was built from 1913 to 1915. In 1935, it was named Hindenburg Bridge ...

of Cologne, links Kiyosu with Nihonbashi-Nakasu.Koizumi Kishio:
100 Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era. #1
' * The Chuo Bridge was opened in 1994. * The Tsukuda Bridge, dating from 1964, was the first bridge built after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, crossing the river from

Tsukiji Tsukiji (築地) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan. Literally meaning "reclaimed land", it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 18th century during the Edo period. The eponymous Tsukiji fish market opened in 193 ...

Tsukishima is a place located in Chūō, Tokyo, Japan, in the Sumida River estuary. It is a reclaimed land next to Tsukuda District. The land reclamation completed in 1892, using earth from the dredging work performed to create a shipping channel in Toky ...

. * The Kachidoki Bridge was constructed in 1940 for the commemoration of the victory of the Japanese army at Lushun during the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War ( ja, 日露戦争, Nichiro sensō, Japanese-Russian War; russian: Ру́сско-япóнская войнá, Rússko-yapónskaya voyná) was fought between the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire during 1904 and 1 ...

. This bridge is the only drawbridge on the Sumida and has not been raised since 1970. * Tsukiji Ohashi is the newest bridge across the Sumida, opening in 2018 right next to the former site of Tsukiji Market. File:EitaiBridge NightView.jpg, Eitai Bridge File:Sobu Line Sumidagawa Bridge in 1930s.jpg, Sumidagawa Bridge in 1930s File:X-shaped pedestrian Sakura bridge over Sumida river, linking Taitō and Sumida wards, view from Tokyo Skytree, Japan.jpg, Sakura Bridge File:Azuma Bridge.jpg, Azuma Bridge File:Sumida river04s2100.jpg, Chuo Bridge File:Sumida River at sunset, Kachidokibashi Bridge, Tokyo.jpg, Kachidoki Bridge

Panorama

Notes

References

* Titsingh, Isaac (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du Japon''. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 251800045
*'' Imprimerie Royale de France''.

External links

Photograph of re-built Ryogoku bridge (1875)
National Archives of Japan
Photograph of re-built Azumabashi Bridge (June 1876)
National Archives of Japan
Color woodcut print of "Pleasure boating on the Sumida River", c. 1788–1790
New York Public Library Digital Gallery {{Authority control Rivers of Tokyo Rivers of Japan Geography of Kita, Tokyo Geography of Adachi, Tokyo Geography of Arakawa, Tokyo Geography of Sumida, Tokyo Geography of Taitō Geography of Kōtō Geography of Chūō, Tokyo

Art