The is a river which 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 37.46 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

. It is a distributary river of the Kanda River and flows into the

Sumida River The is a river that flows through central Tokyo, Japan. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi (in Kita-ku) and flows into Tokyo Bay. Its tributaries include the Kanda and Shakujii rivers. It passes through the Kita, Adachi, Ara ...

near the Eitai Bridge. The river is in length and passes through Chiyoda and Chuo wards. The river was created by a re-channeling of the former Hira River in the 15th Century at the direction of

Ōta Dōkan , also known as Ōta Sukenaga (太田資長) or Ōta Dōkan Sukenaga, was a Japanese ''samurai'' warrior-poet, military tactician and Buddhist monk. Ōta Sukenaga took the tonsure (bald scalp) as a Buddhist priest in 1478, and he also adopted t ...

to form a part of the external fortifications and water management plan for

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established ...

. Connected to

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 populou ...

the river is shallow in depth and subject to a tidal range of up to two meters. The river banks are heavily built up in character and the Inner Circular Route C1 of the

Shuto Expressway is a network of toll expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the . Most routes are grade-separated (elevated roads or tunnels) and central routes have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that requi ...

has covered almost the entire length of the river since the expressway's construction in 1962. Despite this the river features urban park space along its southern bank, occasional boat tours and a number of noteworthy and historic bridges along its route; foremost being the Nihonbashi Bridge designed by Tsumaki Yorinaka in 1911.

References

{{Rivers of Japan Rivers of Tokyo Rivers of Japan