Eitaibashi bridge

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. Powerspots of Edo .
. Edo no hashi 江戸の橋　the bridges of Edo .
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Eitaibashi 永代橋 Eitai-bashi bridge
. Chūō ku 中央区 Chuo Ward "Central Ward" .

This bridge spans the Sumidagawa 隅田川 Sumida River.
It was first built in 1698 on request of the fifth Shogun, Tsunayoshi 徳川綱吉, to celebrate his 50th birthday. It was about 100 meters upriver from the location of today, where the river crossing of Fukagawa 深川の渡し had been.
It was the fourth bridge over the Sumidagawa river and the most downstream, connecting Edo with Fukagawa.


source :　blog.livedoor.jp/henky

It was about 200 meters long and 6 meters wide. It had 30 poles to support the bridge. To let trade ships with sails pass even during high tide, it hat do be quite high.

Around 1719 it had become rather old and was in need of repair. Most of the anti-slipping boards had been worn out. But the villages on both sides could not decide how much to pay and the Bakufu government was also not ready with a suitable plan, so things hang on . . .

In 1807, on the 20th of September, was the great festival at Fukagawa Tomioka Hachimangu, where new festival floats had been allowed after a break of 12 years. Everyone was excited and wanted to see the festival.
On that day, shortly before the accident, a boat of a feudal lord passed under the bridge and the warden stopped the crowd from crossing for that time. When the boat was gone, everyone stormed over the bridge and then it happened.
Near the Fukagawa side the bridge broke in two places and more than 1400 people fell and slid in the river, drowned and could not be found later.

The bridge has been crowded like a commuter train nowadays, with everyone shoving and pushing forward to reach the festival site.
Folks on the Edo side of the bridge had not yet realized what had appened and kept pushing on, so ever more people slipped down into the river once they crossed the highest part.

An official from the Southern Ward Office, one Watanabe Kozaemon 渡辺小佐衛門, then realized what had happened and posted himself at the acces to the bridge, draw his sword and prevented the folks from pushing past him, threatening to kill them if they tried to go past him. (This story has become a legend in Edo, even taken up by the writer Kyokutei Bakin 曲亭馬琴 in the story of Toenkai 兎園会 written in 1825.)


source :　ginjo.fc2web.com/021eitaibasi

落橋事故 - 文化４年（1807)８月 15日 Bridge Collapse Accident

Many small boats came to help looking for drowning people, temporary hospitals were set up along both shores to take care of the wounded.

The bridge was later rebuilt by the Bakufu government and then renewed to become the first iron bridge in Japan and in Tokyo in 1897.


source : www.postalmuseum.jp/collection


Part of the new bridge was still built with wood and burned down during the Great Tokyo Earthquake in 1923.
It was rebuilt again in 1926 as the first earthquake-proof bridge in Tokyo.

It was declared an important national treasure in 2007.

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広重 Hiroshige

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The Eitaibashi bridge in our modern times :
. . . reference . . .

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. WKD : Bridge (hashi　橋) .


. Fukagawa Tomioka Hachimangu 富岡八幡宮 .


- Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉
. Bashoo-an 芭蕉庵 Basho-An in Fukagawa　深川 .


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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -

- about the Bridge Collapse Accident

永代と かけたる橋は 落ちにけり きょうは祭礼 あすは葬礼

the Eitai bridge collapsed -
today the festival announcement
tomorrow the funeral announcement
Tr. Gabi Greve


eitai 永代 can mean something to last permanently . . . and the bridge was built with this wish for the Bakufu government of the Tokugawa clan.



永代橋落ちんばかりの神輿かな
Eitaibashi ochin bakari no mikoshi kana

from Eitaibashi
all the festival floats
fallen down . . .

Nakada Minami 中田みなみ

The cut marker KANA is at the end of line 3.

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春風や永代橋の人通り
harukaze ya Eitaibashi no hitodoori

spring breeze -
all these people walking
over Eitaibashi bridge

. Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規 .

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Kawase Hasui 川瀬 巴水 - Eitai Bashi - the bridge from 1926.


. Legend from the Shrine 高尾稲荷 Takao Inari .


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. Chūō ku 中央区 Chuo Ward "Central Ward" .

. Japanese Architecture - cultural keywords used in haiku .

. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .


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- #eitaibashi -
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second lunar month

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The Second Lunar Month　二月 nigatsu - 如月 kisaragi -

In the old lunar calendar of the Edo period,

spring lasted from the first month to the third,
summer from the fourth month through the sixth,
autumn from the seventh month through the ninth,
winter from the tenth month through the twelfth.

. WKD : The Asian Lunar Calendar and the Saijiki .


. Edo Saijiki　江戸歳時記 .



source :　art.jcc-okinawa.net/okinawa/edonosiki


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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -


. ema-uri, emauri　絵馬売り　selling ema votive tablets .


. taiko uri 太鼓売り vendor of drums .


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. Edo Saijiki　江戸歳時記 .


. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .


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ISSA - Kyoto

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

出代や山越て見る京の空
degawari ya yama koshite miru Kyoo no sora

初夢の不二の山売る都哉
hatsu yume no fuji no yama uru miyako kana

時鳥花のお江戸を一呑に
hototogisu hana no o-edo o hito nomi ni

蚊柱の穴から見ゆる都哉
ka-bashira no ana kara miyuru miyako kana

から人と雑魚寝もすらん女かな
karabito to zakone mo suran onna kana

京辺や冬篭さへいそがしき
miyakobe ya fuyugomori sae isogashiki

のらくらや花の都も秋の風
norakura ya hana no miyako mo aki no kaze

下京の窓かぞへけり春の暮
shimogyoo no mado kazoe keri haru no kure

行秋やすでに御釈迦は京の空
yuku aki ya sude ni o-shaka wa kyoo no sora

- - - - -Read the discussions here :
. Kyoto - Hana no Miyako 花の都 .

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夜々は本ンの都ぞ門涼
yoru-yoru wa hon no miyako zo kado suzumi

night after night
people cool off outside --
it is truly the capital
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is from the sixth month (July) of 1813, about five months after Issa finally reached an agreement with his brother and returned to live in his half of his father's house in his hometown. It is also the last hokku in a series of four (or perhaps five) in Issa's diary about the Gion Festival in faraway Kyoto, a festival that is taking place as he writes his hokku. Apparently just imagining the Gion Festival makes Issa feel cooler. When he traveled in western Honshu many years earlier, Issa probably saw at least part of the long Gion Festival, which lasts for a month and is one of the three most famous festivals in Japan. Night after night and day after day different groups of dancers, musicians, actors, Shinto priests, and ordinary citizens from different parts of Kyoto carry out ceremonies and performances in various neighborhoods and parade through the streets at various times. When they do, people go outside to wave or urge on those in the processions as they pass by. On 6/7 and 6/14, very tall floats on large wagons were pulled through the streets of the main parts of the city, and Issa's other Kyoto hokku in this part of his diary for the sixth month evoke those large floats. During the month-long festival, benches were set up in the streets, stalls selling food or charms proliferated, and low platforms were placed in the almost dry riverbed of the Kamo River near the route of the processions, allowing people to cool off in the night air as they watched from the riverbed. It is this festival which Issa evokes in four consecutive hokku, and the only emperor he mentions is Gozu Tennou, the Ox Head Emperor, a syncretic Buddhist and Shinto deity who is the main god at the Gion Shrine.

In Issa's time the nominal capital of Japan was Kyoto, but the emperor was close to being a mere figurehead, and the actual administrative capital was Edo, where the shogunate held real power and acted as the nation's government, although much power was also held by feudal samurai lords in their rural domains. To Issa, however, in the sixth month Kyoto stops being the nominal capital of Japan and actually becomes the real capital. This change is not due to the old aristocracy but to the economic power of Kyoto's merchants and craftspeople, who support the Gion Festival and keep alive the communal commoner networks, guilds, and self-help organizations that developed through the centuries after the aristocracy lost most of its power. The Gion Festival takes place throughout the city, and each local neighborhood joins in. Much of the commoner population of Kyoto participates in this festival, and those who don't pull floats around or perform in the streets stand beside the streets near their homes, enjoying the cool air, conversation, and the festival. When Issa says people "cool off by/near their doors and gates," he seems to be referring mainly to the commoners in Kyoto.

This kind of great outdoor urban festival could take place in Kyoto because of its traditions of commoner independence and pride and because commoners made up the majority of the population of the city. By contrast, in Edo, where Issa came of age after being sent there as a boy, warriors owned about two-thirds of the land, with only about 15% being owned by commoners. Edo began as a castle town and administrative center, and most of the early commoners who came to live there did jobs that were in some way related to supporting the warrior population. By Issa's time commoners had developed their own unique culture, but in Edo there was never any doubt about which class ruled and which classes had to obey. In Kyoto, however, warriors had to keep a very low profile and hesitated to interfere in daily city affairs, while the aristocrats were weak and ineffectual. During the Gion Festival, at least, Kyoto people enjoyed living outside together, and it must have almost seemed as if commoners temporarily ran the city. To Issa, Kyoto during the Gion Festival truly deserved the name of capital of Japan.

After leaving Edo and returning to live in his hometown in 1813, Issa, happy at being home, seems to have partially overlapped in his mind his native area of Shinano with Kyoto. In another hokku in Issa's diary placed soon before the four about the Gion Festival is a hokku about the "mountain people" in his area having "Kyoto-sized" rooms in their houses. In Kyoto, tatami floor mat sizes were slightly bigger than in Edo, where people had to squeeze together. An eight-mat room was thus perceptibly larger in Kyoto and Shinano than in Edo. And more generally, Issa feels Shinano is a much better place than it's said to be by outsiders. In fact, when it comes to summer coolness Shinano is the capital of cool in Japan, as Issa suggests in this hokku, which is also placed near the four hokku about Kyoto:

bathing at a hot springs in the depths of Shinano --

gege mo gege gege mo gekoku no suzushisa yo

ah, how cool
the lowest of the lowest
of the low provinces

In ancient Japan Shinano was officially ranked among the "low provinces" in terms of value, and in Issa's time city people in Edo continued to look down on the province. However, Issa knows from experience that those who underestimate Shinano are forgetting something, and the repetition of ge suggests their inability to think and speak clearly. In Shinano the cool summer air is surely, he believes, as refreshing as it gets in Japan. The coolness in Shinano comes from nature, while the coolness in Kyoto comes from its convivial outdoor street culture, especially during the colorful and dramatic Gion Festival, but Issa seems to feel that both Shinano and Kyoto must be equal in terms of sheer coolness. His hometown has no great annual midsummer festival to transform and cool daily life, but it does have magic melons. In Issa's diary, placed between the "lowest of the low" hokku and the "night after night" hokku are these:

hito kitara kaeru to nare yo hiyashi-uri

hey, melons cooling
in the creek, if someone comes
turn into frogs!


ishikawa ya ariake-zuki to hiyashi-uri

rocky stream --
dawn moon,
cooling melons

In the first hokku, Issa plays the part of magician, while in the second it is the moon's cool light and its shape reflected on the surface of the rippling stream that urge the melons to think big and to cool people's minds and imaginations as well as their mouths, just as the moon does. Also, as Issa surely knows, Rocky Stream is also one of the alternate names of the Kamo River in Kyoto, and the next two hokku in his diary evoke the representation of a cool crescent moon at the top of a pole high above the moon float at the Gion Festival, a float dedicated to the main god of the Gion Shrine, so the hokku about the rocky stream may be overlapping a stream in Issa's hometown with the Kamo River in Kyoto, where large numbers of people go at night to catch some cool air and eat cool food after enjoying the festival. Issa seems to have actually witnessed people immersing melons in the Kamo River for cooling, since several years earlier he wrote a hokku about it, so it seems possible that, in Issa's imagination, the melons in the rocky stream hokku are cooling both in Issa's hometown and in the Kamo River in faraway Kyoto.

During his first summer back in his hometown, Issa seems to have had utopian visions of his native region. After leaving behind the cramped rooms of warrior-ruled Edo, he may have felt that in some ways his hometown was the equal of Kyoto, at least if he could use his imagination to make it into something equaling Kyoto. Surely he was beginning to understand the type of haikai he wanted to write from now on in his new life environment.

Issa's mental overlapping of his hometown with Kyoto is a bit complex.

Chris Drake


. Gion matsuri　祇園祭り Gion Festival in Kyoto .

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時鳥京にして見る月よ哉
hototogisu kyoo ni shite miru tsukiyo kana

nightingale,
go see this moon
in the old capital

This hokku is from lunar 4/19 (May 26) of 1807, when Issa was in Edo. On the nineteenth the moon is slightly past full and is still fairly bright though waning. In the hokku Issa seems to be especially impressed by the singing of one nightingale, and he tries to persuade the bird to visit the old capital, Kyoto, if it really wants to see tonight's moon as it should be seen, with the moonlit city spread out below in its full beauty. Since Edo was a city on the move twenty-four hours a day, city lights presumably made the moon harder to see and enjoy, and in Kyoto, where waka poems about nightingales have been written for centuries, people will appreciate the bird's voice more deeply than they do in Edo. And Kyoto, still the nominal capital, is simply a more elegant city than utilitarian Edo, the actual administrative capital. In the previous hokku in his diary Issa urges a nightingale not to dawdle or it will never get to Kyoto, and in the present hokku he may be hoping the bird can fly all the way to Kyoto in a single night.

In another hokku written on the same day, Issa tells a nightingale that has just returned from the south to get ready to look at creepers and other high-growing weeds on and around the humble houses of commoners in Edo. However, that hokku is followed by:

nightingale,
at night even weeds
are beautiful

hototogisu yoru wa mugura mo utsukushiki

Still, nothing in Edo compares with moonlit Kyoto, so Issa urges the bird to gaze at the moon there. By implication, he may be suggesting the bird will be recognized in Kyoto for its outstanding voice.

There is no perfect English translation for the bird hototogisu. It is literally the "lesser" cuckoo, since it is smaller than the larger common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus - kakkou, kankodori), which is commonly found in Europe and sings with cuckoo-clock-like cries. The lesser cuckoo is found only in Africa and Asia, so its cry and its habits are not part of common bird folklore or experience in English. The song of the lesser cuckoo is rather different from that of the common cuckoo and is closer to the song of the uguisu (bush warbler). In fact, the songs of the lesser cuckoo and bush warbler were and to some extent still remain the two most prized bird songs in Japan, and people wrote many waka and hokku about hearing the first song of the year of both birds. Since the lesser cuckoo, unlike the common cuckoo, is fond of singing at night as well as in the day, the sound of its voice in the darkness is said to be especially moving, and people often stayed up all night in early summer waiting to hear its soulful, emotional-sounding song. The bird is therefore often associated with night and the moon as well as with souls in the other world and with mountain gods, for whom it acts as a messenger.

It is also thought to be a messenger for Buddhas, and its song is said to make the sound of Japanese words meaning, "Have you hung up your Buddha image?" The inside of its mouth is red, and the lesser cuckoo is also called the bird that coughs blood, a reference to legendary king Duyu in China who died in exile and whose soul became a lesser cuckoo that sang so sadly about wanting to return home that it coughed up blood. This legend influenced Masaoka Shiki when he chose his writing name (Shiki, in Sino-Japanese, means Lesser Cuckoo), since he, too, was a singer in spite of coughing up blood from his tubercular lungs, and the literary magazine he founded, Hototogisu, bears the name Lesser Cuckoo. Many other legends and images are associated with the bird.

Unfortunately, to most English speakers, the word cuckoo suggests the common cuckoo and not the mysterious, otherworldly lesser cuckoo with its sad, emotional voice. There is no consensus on what English name might suggest the beauty and suggestiveness of the bird's song, which is quite different from that of the common cuckoo, but I use "nightingale" in order to suggest some of the spiritual and cultural ambiance of the hototogisu. In Greek myth the nightingale sings the mournful song of the soul of a woman who has been wronged, and in English poetry the nightingale has often been evoked as the spirit of song or poetry or the imagination. However, nightingales are not found in Japan, so my translation is based on cultural similarities and the nocturnal singing habits of both the nightingale and the lesser cuckoo.

Chris Drake


. hototogisu ホトトギス, 時鳥 Little Cuckoo, Cuculus poliocephalis .

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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction .


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ISSA mukudori

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .



photo - wikipedia


. WKD : mukudori 椋鳥 starling, gray starling .
muku, むく、hakutoo oo 白頭翁（はくとうおう）
black-collared starling,  黑領椋鳥
small starling, ko mukiudori  小椋鳥（こむくどり）
Family Sturnidae

kigo for all autumn

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oo kuro mukudori modoki オオクロムクドリモドキ common grackle
a type of mukudori, crow blackbird

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"Country bumpkins" such as Issa were called "(gray) starlings" (mukudori) by sophisticated Edo-ites.
It also refers to migrant workers from the countryside who came to work in Edo during the winter months.

. Gambling (bakuchi 博打) .

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椋鳥といふ人さはぐ夜寒哉
mukudori to iu hito sawagu yozamu kana

people get worked up,
blame "those starlings" --
it's cold tonight
Tr. Chris Drake

This autumn hokku is from the beginning of the eighth month (September) in 1815, when Issa was in his home province of Shinano. The exact circumstances aren't mentioned in the hokku, so it's impossible to be certain, but it's still three months before the migration season begins, and Issa is in or near his hometown, and not on the road traveling to Edo, so he probably wouldn't be mistaken for a winter migrant worker. As a child, Issa was probably called lots of names when he first arrived in Edo, but he lived in Edo for many years and was not a seasonal migrant to the big city. I take this hokku to be about some prejudiced people in Issa's home province who are criticizing to Issa or to someone nearby Issa the many migrant seasonal workers who leave Issa's home province and go to Edo to work every winter and then return in the spring as soon as fields need to be prepared for planting. In Issa's time more seasonal workers came to Edo from Shinano than from any other area, so they were often singled out for biased remarks.

Most of the winter migrant workers were poor tenant farmers who didn't own their own land and had a hard time making ends meet, and they were criticized by people both in Shinano and in Edo. People called them many names, especially "gluttons," since some spent much of what they made on eating out and drinking in Edo, "blockheads," since they didn't speak the Edo dialect or care very much about Edo customs, and "starlings" (literally, white-cheeked or gray starlings). "Starlings" seems to have had many meanings, but one was a reference to the fact that Japanese starlings gather together in huge flocks of tens of thousands of birds during the winter, making a lot of noise and treating the natural environment rather roughly.

Another sense of the word criticized migrant workers for staying in groups and not trying to mix with Edo people. Still another sense was that migrant workers wore clothes that looked as shabby as the feathers of the starlings. To some people living in Shinano the term also seems to have referred to migrant workers' alleged lack of interest in contributing to their own communities. "Starlings" was a very negative word, and when Issa heard it used on this night, he surely felt sympathy for the migrants. He probably also remembered the cold reception he himself received as an outsider when he returned to live in his hometown.

In 1819, however, the year evoked in Year of My Life, Issa himself was definitely called a migrant starling. In the eleventh month (December) he wrote:

mukudori no nakama ni iru ya yuushigure

I've become
one of the starlings --
cold evening rain

In Issa's diary this hokku follows a hokku about being called a starling, a hokku that also appears toward the end of Year of My Life. In a letter to his follower Toyuu written on 9/14 in 1820, Issa briefly explains how he came to compose that hokku:

Last winter on the third of the twelfth month I grabbed my walking staff and set out for Edo in the east. As I went along I composed this hokku, saying it out loud under my breath:

mukudori to hito ni yobaruru samusa kana

bitter cold --
people call me
a starling

Just then wet sleet began splashing down and turned the whole road into deep mud. I still hadn't reached Usui Pass, which is very difficult for anyone to cross over, but my old legs were already worn out, so I turned around and retraced my steps until I'd returned home.

The coldness in the hokku of course refers equally to the weather and to Issa's feelings.

Did Issa set out in the eleventh month, as his diary suggests, or early in the twelfth month (January), as his letter says? In either case, he took to the road in simple robes at a time when large numbers of seasonal workers were also heading for Edo, and he was taken to be one of them. He was still in his home province of Shinano when he was called a starling, probably in villages he passed through as he walked along the Nakasendo road toward Edo, and the repeated slur must have hurt even more because it came from people so close to home.

Chris Drake

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senryu Yoshiwara

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. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu in Edo - Introduction .
- sakariba, see below
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Yoshiwara 葦原 /　吉原　pleasure quarters in Edo - senryuu　川柳　collection
Taito, Senzoku 4-chome

Yoshiwara 葦原 "reed plains" named after the first location in Edo near Nihonbashi.
When it was moved North of Asakusa, it was re-named (or rather written with a different character, 吉原, "pleasure plains".

They were build similar to the first pleasure quarters in Kyoto, built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi,
to show that PEACE was to be the new rule of the land.
Therefore the Tatami rooms in Yoshiwara used the measures of Kyoto tatami straw floor mats (Kyōma (京間 Kyoma).
Kyoma measure 0.91 m by 1.82 m - thickness, 5.5 cm
Edoma measure 0.88 m by 1.76 m - thickness 6.0 cm




Since the quarters were most possibly constructed with the possible purpose as a fortress toward the North, the access is only via a narrow zig-zag road.
The original area of ponds and marshland was drained to create space for the pleasure quarter.
Streets were laid out in a grid pattern and the area surrounded by walls and a moat, to stop unhappy women from escaping.

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Shin-yoshiwara Nakano-chō 新吉原仲之町八朔図

Yoshihara was the only pleasure quarter in Edo.
It is said to have begun in 1617 when a red-light district was formed by gathering the various brothels,
which had hitherto been scattered throughout Edo town, into the vicinity of Ningyō-chō, Nihonbashi.
Following the Great Fire of Meireki, the pleasure quarter was relocated
to what is today's Senzoku, Taitō Ward, in August 1657.
It is said that on Hassaku (August 1), the prostitutes of Yoshiwara
would wear white kimonos to commemorate the entrance of Ieyasu Tokugawa into Edo Castle.
. source : Tokyo Metropolitan Library .

Other cheap pleasure quarters were in the postal stations along the roads leading out of Edo.
. Okabasho 岡場所 "Place on a Hill" .
Here the meshimori onna 飯盛女 "rice-serving ladies" were on duty.
yotaka 夜鷹 "nighthawks (night hawks)"
yuujo 遊女　"woman to play with", cheap prostitutes 　


. fuuzoku, fûzoku　風俗 Fuzoku, entertainment and sex business .
funamanjuu 船饅頭　"sweet buns on a boat"

- quote
Yoshiwara (吉原) was a famous yūkaku (遊廓、遊郭, pleasure district, red-light district) in Edo, present-day Tōkyō, Japan.
In the early 17th century,
there was widespread male and female prostitution throughout the cities of Kyoto, Edo, and Osaka.
A leading motive
for the establishment of these districts was the Tokugawa shogunate attempt to prevent the nouveau riche chōnin (townsmen) from engaging in political intrigue.
The Yoshiwara
was created in the city of Edo, near what is today known as Nihonbashi, near the start of the busy Tōkaidō that leads to western Kyoto in western Japan. In 1656, due to the need for space as the city grew, the government decided to relocate Yoshiwara and plans were made to move the district to its present location north of Asakusa on the outskirts of the city.
People involved in
mizu shōbai (水商売) ("the water trade") would include hōkan (comedians), kabuki (popular theatre of the time), dancers, dandies, rakes, tea-shop girls, Kanō (painters of the official school of painting), courtesans who resided in seirō (green houses) and geisha in their okiya houses.
By 1900, there were about 9,000 prostitutes in Yoshiwara.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



viewing cherry blossoms in Yoshiwara　花見

. Taitoo, Taitō 台東区 Taito Ward .

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Yoshichoo 芳町 The Yoshicho district
in Chuo ward was another hanamachi 花街 "flower district" red-light district.

Around 日本橋人形町 Nihonbashi Ningyocho, it was called
moto Yoshiwara 元吉原 the Original Yoshiwara.
As Edo grew larger, the district was moved out to Asakusa.
Kabuki theaters like the 中村座 Nakamuraza moved here instead,
so it was still an entertainment area, with tea shops and fancy restaurants.
In modern times Tokyo changed a lot and in 1977 the name was abolished.

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. Oiran 花魁 Great Courtesans and Daruma san .


. amigasa chaya 編笠茶屋 renting a large braided straw hat .
to hide the face for a Yoshiwara pleasure quarter visit.

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The Fuji Marsh and Ukishima Plain near Yoshiwara
Yoshiwara, Fuji no numa ukishima ga hara

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)

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- quote -
TOKUGAWA JAPAN - Ukiyo: The Pleasure Quarters

Robert Oxnam :: With the rise of a merchant class came the expansion of entertainment districts. These pleasure quarters were called ukiyo, the floating world. The floating world also provided a whole new source of subject matter for popular culture and art. Fresh trends in drama, literature, and poetry thrived on the economic and social changes of the time.

Donald Keene :: The pleasure quarters included houses of prostitution, restaurants, theaters, and many other places where people would go. When people were in there, men who went there and went inside there, they forfeited all their particular privileges. An aristocrat or a samurai going in there had no more privileges than a baker or a shoemaker or whatever he happened to be.

The only thing that counted in this world was money. If you had enough money to pay for the pleasures, you would be the person who could enjoy them. And the women — the courtesans, prostitutes, and so on of this quarter — were known by names, Genji names, names taken from the Tale of Genji. So that a merchant could have the illusion that he was spending the evening with a woman who was described in the Tale of Genji.

These women were the subjects of the ukiyo-e, the paintings of the floating world, the pictures of the floating world. These pictures begin as almost advertisements for these women. This is the kind of beautiful woman who lives in this place.

The word "ukiyo" itself in the medieval period had meant the "sad world." That is the world of our existence, this sad world which we should be glad to leave for another world, a permanent world, a world where there is no more of the hardship that we experience in this world. But, by a pun, the same sounds, "ukiyo," were used to mean "floating world." And what "floating world" meant was a world which is full of change and desirable change, and change that's fun. An insistence on now, something that's going on right now, as opposed to the past.

The Japanese traditionally looked back to the past, a golden age when people were wiser than they are now. They lived more graciously than they do now. But in this period the emphasis was on now. Being up to date, knowing what the latest fashions were; knowing the newest slang; going to the theater and hearing about what was most exciting. That was the floating world.

Perhaps the most vivid representation of this spirit is in the paintings of waves. Waves rise, they have crests, they sparkle, they disappear, but another wave appears. It isn't the end of everything once a wave has disappeared.

And so, people of this time were proud of being up to date, which was a rather unusual attitude for the Japanese. They also enjoyed going to the theater and seeing people like themselves. Not only the heros of the past, or people who appeared in the Tale of Genji, but their neighbors, people they knew about. Scandal sheets were circulated, people would sell these broad sheets, and people would know about who killed whom, or what couple committed love suicide together. Any of these activities would be quickly reported. People would buy them and then some dramatist was as likely as not to make a play about it.

Robert Oxnam :: Plays, novels, and poetry all came to reflect the tastes of this urban population. Novels were written to describe the life of the common man. In poetry, the haiku form became extremely popular, as it remains to the present day. Theater became the rage — both Kabuki with live actors and Bunraku with puppets. And famous playwrights wrote for both forms.

- Look at the video here :
- source : afe.easia.columbia.edu/at/tokugawa -

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- quote -
“Gender and Japanese History” - exhibition December 2020
Countless historical phenomena formed and disappeared over the course of time, but only some have been written down. We call the former “reki” and the latter “shi.” Despite women’s indisputable existence as “reki” in the long history of the Japanese archipelago, they rarely appear in “shi.” Nonetheless, researchers of women’s history raised the following fresh questions through their efforts to bring female figures to light. “Why did we come to differentiate male from female?” “How did people in the past navigate through such gender divisions?” With the use of more than 280 sources including important cultural properties and UNESCO “memory of the world” items, this historical exhibition explores what gender meant and how it transformed within the long history of Japanese society.
... focusing on the sex trade from medieval to postwar times,...
Along with Takahashi Yuichi’s painting 《Oiran》designated as an important cultural property, we will exhibit a prostitute’s diary and hand-written letters by by Koina and Matsugae, popular prostitutes of the Inamoto Brothel in the New Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. Wardrobes, tools, letters, and diaries—These items tell us about the livelihood of prostitutes and their male customers. This exhibition is groundbreaking in the way it reveals the suppression structure over the sex trade through an examination of social characteristics. ...
- source :rekihaku national museum -

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川柳江戸吉原図絵 - by 花咲一男

Illustrated Senryu from Yoshiwara

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At the old entrance gate to the Yoshiwara quarters 吉原大門
was a weeping willow tree, where visitors stopped after a visit and sighed.



mikaeri yanagi　見返り柳 the willow of looking back


source : collection.imamuseum.org
Tamagiku of the Nakamanjiya, Inaki Shinnojō, and
Nakamanjiya Yahei (looking through window)
Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞 (1786-1864)

- quote
- - - customers, who visited a red-light district, used to stop around it and look back at the district with reluctance on their way home.
Around the Ichiyo Memorial Hall, there are shrines, temples and a lot that was once Shin-yoshiwara, which are settings of "Take-kurabe".
"Model of Tamagiku Toro"
(created by Hiroshi Miura, right) -- 玉菊灯篭 "Tamagiku Toro" was an event in Nakano-machi, which comforted the spirit of "Tamagiku," a courtesan at a bordello "Nakamanji-ya" in Shinyoshiwara Sumi-cho. Teahouses on both sides of the street placed this lantern in front of their houses. Tamagiku is said to have had both wit and beauty, and have been good at tea ceremony, flower arrangement, popular linked verse and koto music.
She died at the age of 25 in 1726.
- Yoshiwara Shrine 吉原神社
- source : taito-culture.jp/culture/ichiyou


万字屋玉菊 Manji-Ya Tamagiku
Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞


見返れば意見か柳顔をうち
mikaereba iken ka yanagi kao o uchi


きぬぎぬのうしろ髪ひく柳かな
kinuginu no ushirogami hiku yanagi kana

- - - - -

闇の夜は吉原ばかり月夜かな　　　- 其角 Kikaku

吉原のうしろ見よとやちる木の葉
吉原をゆらゆら油扇かな
目の毒としらぬうちこそ桜哉
吉原も末枯時の明りかな
霜がれや新吉原も小藪並
かすむ夜やうらから見ても吉原ぞ
三弦（さみせん）で雪を降らする二階哉
乙鳥（つばくら）やぺちやくちやしやべるもん日哉
陽炎や新吉原の昼の体
時鳥待まうけてや屋根の桶
- source : members.jcom.home.ne.jp/michiko328

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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -

吉原へ男の知恵を捨てに行き　
Yoshiwara e otoko no chie o sute ni yuki

to Yoshiwara
men go to leave their better judgement
behind 　

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男一度は伊勢と吉原
otoko ichido wa ise to yoshiwara

a real man
must visit Ise once
and Yoshiwara



. Ise Jingu 伊勢神宮 Great Shrine at Ise .

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Light Verse from the Floating World
Makoto Ueda - keyword Yoshiwara
- - books.google.co.jp - -

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Minako: Last Geisha of the Yoshiwara



Brief presentations on geisha and Edo culture by director Makoto Yasuhara and Edo specialist Kenji Watanabe, followed by a screening of Minako.
Director Makoto Yasuhara spent six years getting to know and document the life of a practicing geisha of the Yoshiwara district of Tokyo. Until Minako’s death in 2010 at age 90, she was the last living geisha (literally “a practitioner of the arts”) of the Yoshiwara, the only licensed area for prostitution in the old city of Edo (present Tokyo). Yoshiwara was once occupied by courtesans and those versed in traditional arts. Following World War II, the district was officially closed, but the cultural traditions lived on through the work of geisha like Minako.
- source : The Department of Asian Studies Vancouver Campus -

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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

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松本清十郎 Matsumoto Seijuro from 須佐高浜村 Takahama village in 須佐 Susa (Okayama) owned 揚屋 尾張屋 the store Owariya for introducing courtesans.
In the compound of the estate, he built a small Shrine for kayougami 通う神, (lit. the gods that come and go all the time), the Wayside Gods.
He prayed for the safety of the visitors to the prostitutes, who "come and go".
. Doosoojin 道祖神 Dosojin, Dososhin Wayside Gods .

.......................................................................
Sokaku ソカク (Kikaku) 其角，雨乞の句 Haiku master Kikaku praying for rain
Haiku Master Kikaku and a friend were invited by 紀伊国屋文左衛門 Kinokuniya Bunzaemon to go to 吉 Yoshiwara.
On the way near 小梅村 Kome village they saw people performing amagoi 雨乞い a rain ritual.
Bunzaemon asked Kikaku if there were also Haiku for rain rituals, as there were 和歌 Waka poems.
Kikaku said he would write a Haiku to make rain fall, and if not, would drown himself in the river.
He wrote a Haiku and it begun to rain.
. Enomoto Kikaku (1661-1707) 榎本其角 .

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yuurei 幽霊 Yurei, a ghost

Around 1884 there lived a monk at 三縁山 Temple Sanenzan. He frequently went to the pleasure quarters of 吉原 Yoshiwara and eventually fell in love with 琴柱 Lady Kotoji. He told her about his miserable life and how all would change if he had some money to get a better job. So Kotoji gave him all her money, made him promise never to go to Yoshiwara again and committed suicide.
When he went back anyway, the ghost of Kotoji showed up and scolded him severely. Now at least he changed his easy-going way and later became a high-ranking priest.


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Shizuoka 静岡県 吉原村 Yoshiwara village

. Yakushi Nyorai - 吉原の薬師堂 Yoshiwara no Yakushi-Do .
and Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1543 - 1616) having his eyes cured.
大平の薬師様 Yakushi Sama in Ohira village

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- source : nichibun yokai database -
22 吉原 collecting
05 川柳

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Photo offers rare panoramic view of Yoshiwara red-light district
The discovery of a rare panoramic photograph of Yoshiwara, the largest red-light district during the Edo Period (1603-1867), has researchers hot under the collar.
Taketoshi Hibiya,
a former Keio University professor who studies Yoshiwara’s history, described the photo, likely taken in the mid-Meiji Era (1868-1912), as a “historic material.”
..... Houses and agricultural fields can be seen in the foreground, with the Yoshiwara district shown behind them. .....
- source : TOMOYOSHI KUBO/ Asahi Shinbun 2018 -

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sakariba 盛り場 amusement center
... In the sakariba at night the crowd is omnipresent in the narrow streets
... the changing location of Tokyo's sakariba
... A 1929 survey of Tokyo sakariba shows us a city that is in important and interesting respects different from the city of today.
- reference : Edo sakariba -


江戸の盛り場・考―浅草・両国の聖と俗
竹内誠　Takeuchi Makoto

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- - - To join me on facebook, click the image !

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. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .


[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
- #senryuyoshiwara ###yoshiwara #sakariba
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Recycling and Reuse

[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
. Doing Business in Edo　- 江戸の商売 .
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Recycling and Reuse in Edo - リサイクル と　再生　/ 再使用
ekorojii エコロジー ecology in Edo
kaishuu 回収 kaishu, collecting things for re-use

This is part of the main entry about
. Doing Business in Edo　- 江戸の商売 .


Some of the people involved were already introduced as
. shuuriya　修理屋 repairmen in Edo .
xxx naoshi 直し, shuuriya　修理屋, shuuri shokunin　修理職人


happinshoo 八品商 eight recycle businesses in Edo
shichiya 質屋、furugiya 古着屋、furugikai 古着買い、furudooguya 古道具屋，kodooguya 小道具屋，karamonoya 唐物屋、furutetsuya 古鉄屋，furutetsukai 古鉄買い.
The government kept an eye on them, because sometimes the merchandise was stolen.


CLICK for photos !

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Recycling was the common way of life in Edo.
Anything could be used and re-used, repaired and re-repaired and in the end find its way in a warming fire,
since all things were made of natural material.

Some of the recycling business in Edo is listed below, but more is to come later.


Edo no risaikuru gyoo　江戸のリサイクル業　recycling business in Edo

- source : www.gakken.co.jp/kagakusouken

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Look at the long scroll HERE:
- source : www.jba.or.jp/top/bioschool


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- - - - - ABC-List of the business activities - - - - -

. abura uri　油売り　selling oil - and talking too much .

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. bafunkaki 馬糞掻き, bafun tori 馬糞とり horse-shit collectors .

. biwa yootoo uri　枇杷葉湯売り　selling biwa leaves as medicine .

. furudaru kai 古樽買い buying old barrels .

furugane kai, furukane kai 古金買い / 古かね買い buying scrap metal
furutetsu kai 古鉄買い buying scrap iron
kanamonoya 銅物屋(かなものや) dealer in scrap metal
furutetsu furugane 古鉄古金 / 古かね scrap iron and scrap metal
They bought old metal pots and pans and other metal items, which were beyond repair.
Metal could be melted and re-used.

. furugasa kai 古傘買い furui kasa, buying old umbrellas .

. furugiya 古着屋 / furugi kai　古着買い　dealer in old cloths .
..... furuteya, furute-ya 古手屋 in Kamigata

. furubone kai 古骨買い buying old parasols and umbrellas (the "bones") .


. haikai 灰買い buying ashes .

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harigane uri 針金売り selling wire


source :　www.japanknowledge.com

The old man on this image carries wires in both hands and has more around his neck.
It is possible they used their trade to collect information that might interest the Bakufu government
- like an onmitsu 隠密 spy.

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Edo no Eco 江戸のエコ Ecology in Edo
- source : members2.jcom.home.ne.jp

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. hiuchigama uri, hiuchi-gama uri　火打ち鎌売り selling tools to strike a fire .
"fire beating sickle" - store Masuya 升屋 near Shiba Shinmei 芝神明 shrine

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. kamikuzu kai 紙くず買い / kamikuzuya 紙屑屋 buying waste paper .
kamikuzu hiroi 紙屑拾い picking up used paper
- - - 古紙リサイクル recycling of waste paper

. kanzashi uri かんざし売り / 簪 selling hair pins and decorations .

. karamono kai 唐物買い buying Karamono .
karamonoya, karamono-ya, toobutsuya 唐物屋 dealing in Karamono
karamono, things from Kara (China or Korea)

. kaya 蚊帳 mosquito net - Moskitonetz .
- - - - - Oomi gaya 近江蚊帳 kaya net from Omi (near lake Biwa)
- - - - - kaya uri 蚊帳売り selling mosquito nets


. kashihonya, kashihon'ya 貸本屋 booklender, booklender
furuhonya, furu-honya 古本屋 selling old books in Edo .


. kenzanya, kenzan ya, kenzan-ya 献残屋 present-recycling merchants, dealers of gifts .

kodoogu kai 小道具買い buying Kodogu, small tools and props
mostly pottery, jewellery or other small art items

. kuzuya 屑屋 collecting waste paper, old cloths, old cotton pieces etc. .


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. mitaoshiya　見倒し屋 / 見倒屋 second-hand dealer .
. . . . . furumono kai　古物買い　to buy old things
. . . . . risaikuru shoppu リサイクルショップ　recycle shop


. nori 糊 starch, glue / himenori 姫糊 "princess nori glue". .
. . . . . nori uri, nori-uri 　糊売り　selling natural glue, starch


. oogi uri, oogi-uri 扇売り vendor of fans .
o-harai oogibako お払い扇箱 "Buying back fan boxes" / oharaibako

. ochanai, otchanai おちゃない.おちゃない collecting hair fallen to the ground .
and sell it to wig makers


. roosoku no nagare kai ロウソクの流れ買い buying candle wax drippings .

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. shichiya 質屋 pawn shop .

. shimogoe tori　下肥取り　collector of human manure, night soil collector .
- shooben kaishuu 小便回収 collecting urin - 立小便をする女 a woman doing it into a bucket
- funnyoo dai 糞尿代 for the landlord to collect

. shitateya 仕立屋　/ 仕立て屋 tailor, seamstress .

. sonryooya, sonryoo-ya 損料屋 Sonryo-Ya, rental agent .
kashimonoya 　貸物屋


. soroban naoshi 算盤直し / そろばん直し repairing the abacus .

. sumi uri, sumi-uri 炭売（すみうり） charcoal vendor .

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. tagaya 箍屋 hoop repairman, clamp repairman .

. takeuma furugi uri 竹馬古着売り / 竹馬古着屋 .
selling old cloths hanging on a "bamboo horse" (takeuma) carried over the shoulder

. take uri　竹売り bamboo vendor - susudake uri 煤竹売 seller of cleaning bamboo .

. taru kai, taru-kai 樽買い / taruya 樽屋 buying barrels .
furudaru kai 古樽買い buying old barrels

. tokkaebee とっかえべえ / tokkaebei とっかえべい
collector of old metal, gives a sweet (amedama) in return .

. tori no fun kai 鳥の糞買い buying "bird droppings" .
usuisu no fun 鶯の糞 nightingale droppings, traditional Japanese beauty secrets

. tsukegi uri　付木売り　selling wood scraps to light a fire .


. waribashi uri 割り箸 売り　selling disposable chopsticks .

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. yoojiten, yooji ten 楊枝店 Yoji, toothpick shop . - Asakusa



. zenigoza uri 銭蓙売り vendor of paper mats to place coins .
and
. zenisashi uri 銭緡売り / sashi-uri 繦売り vendor of money strings .
- - - - - - zenisashi, zeni-sashi 銭さし / 銭差／銭緡 string to keep the small coins

. zenzai uri 善哉売りselling sweet broth with Azuki beans .
- - zenzai is another name for shiruko.
shiruko uri 汁粉売り selling sweet broth with red Azuki beans

. zooriya　草履屋 vendors of straw sandals .

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. Odaiba お台場 - Minato ward .
A modern town, based of classic eco-friendly ideas !

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- quote
Edo Period Japan: A Model of Ecological Sustainability - Eisuke Ishikawa
The society ran as a very efficient closed loop system where all waste was used to support production and previously produced items were repaired and reused. In a closed loop system there is no waste produced that is not used. One simple example of this closed loop system is the use of night soil. Night soil is a term used for human excrement collected for fertilizer. Night soil collectors retrieved the waste during the night from city households and then transported it to outlying agricultural land. Farmers would pay for the night soil with either money, or with the crops grown from the highly fertile soil. This system meant human waste was no longer discarded as pollution, but utilized as very rich compost. This compost in turn created fertile soil for growing food, which was eaten by the people, who then created more night soil! The use of night soil could potentially keep cropland fertile indefinitely, increase yields, and did not pollute area water sources with added nutrients.


Night soil was carted from Edo to the outlying agricultural land
(Illustration © Azby Brown).

Passive solar, wood burning from gathered fallen branches, and human-powered machinery were the only energy sources available during the Edo Period. Every effort was made to work with, and not against, nature to support urban Edo. It is easy to romanticize the period, but it is worth noting that traditional pre-industrial agricultural practices were backbreaking. The difficult work paid off, however, with yields much higher than modern production methods can produce.

Craft guilds and craftspeople that specialized in repairing broken goods were not rare in the pre-industrial world, but Japan during the Edo Period was a uniquely closed-off island location where frugality was an important virtue and self-sufficiency was crucial to survival. Many craftspeople specialized in the repair of previously used items for reuse, or collected waste for use in new production. For example, clothes were mended and resold many times and household goods such as ceramics, metal pots, and umbrellas were repaired by specialized tradespeople. End-of-life materials such as used paper or candle drippings were collected and transformed into new products. Items were made to last generations and repaired until they had truly become useless. Materials and resources were reused or recycled many times until all potential utility had been realized.

This sustainable closed loop system worked on a much larger scale in Japan than elsewhere in the world. At the time, Japan maintained a steady population of 30 million people, meaning for 265 years the population did not increase beyond the small island country’s carrying capacity. At its peak, Edo was the largest city in the world at roughly 1.25 million people. Despite its lack of technological advancement, the city was a thriving and sophisticated urban area. Although the current population of Tokyo is well over ten times the population of Edo, there is still much we can learn from the solutions Edo created to sustain their large and dense population.

The desire for plentiful whale oil to fuel the budding industrial revolution sparked the United States to invade Edo Bay in 1853 with large warships demanding trade. Japan agreed to trade peacefully to avoid war with the United States. The Meiji Restoration in 1868 marked the end of the Tokugawa family rule and a return to imperial power in Japan under Emperor Meiji, officially ending the Edo Period. The Meiji Restoration was an attempt to bolster power for defense from the more technologically advanced West. Japan was intrigued by the prospect of technological progress, and the promise of Western world conveniences, and went on to sign trade agreements with many other countries.

In the end, the Edo Period proved not to be sustainable, as the country was unable to defend itself from the encroaching industrial modernization that resulted from trading with the West. Japan during the Edo Period was extraordinarily sustainable and successful, but grew very little economically. From a capitalist perspective, the Edo Period was stagnating because there was very little new money to be made from products built for longevity, and the repeated repair of used products. Long-term sustainability and continual economic growth are not compatible. Our planet cannot support the capitalist model of continual growth and over-consumption; therefore, our notion of a successful economy needs to be reexamined. It is also worth examining our idea of progress, as perhaps new technological advances (especially those that depend on fossil fuels and work against nature) are not always a positive progression.

Eisuke Ishikawa is the leading authority on the ecological sustainability of the Edo Period.
“Japan in the Edo Period – An Ecologically-Conscious Society"
(大江戸えころじ－事情 O-edo ecology jijo
- source : www.museumofthecity.org


. kenyaku 倹約 frugality, thrift - Sparsamkeit .

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- quote
Rice has long been a staple food for the Japanese, and straw is one rice-making byproduct, the residue left after threshing rice to obtain grain. For every 150 kilograms of rice, about 124 kilograms of straw are produced. Straw was a precious resource for a wide range of uses relating to food, clothing and shelter in the past.

Farmers used about 20 percent of straw produced for making daily commodities, 50 percent for fertilizer and the remaining 30 percent for fuel and other purposes. Ash left after burning straw was used as a potassium fertilizer. In short, 100 percent of straw was used and recycled back to the earth.

For clothing purposes, straw was used to make braided hats, straw raincoats and straw sandals, among other items. Farmers produced such items during the agricultural off-season for their own use and as products to be sold for cash.

Relating to food, straw was used to make straw bags for rice, pot holders, and covering materials to produce "natto" (fermented soybeans). Farmers also used straw to feed cattle and horses and cover feedlots. Animal waste mixed with straw residue made compost for farming.

In the area of shelter, straw was a common building material for outside and inside the house, including the roof, "tatami" mats and clay walls. As you can see, straw, a byproduct of rice, was used widely in daily life and once it was used or burned, it returned to the earth.

In addition to straw, silk, cotton, hemp and other field-made materials were used for clothes. Paper was made of the bark of "kozo" trees. Since only branches were cut to obtain bark, there was no worry of excessive cutting of trees. And there were many kinds of recyclers for used paper in those days.
- source : www.japanfs.org - Eisuke Ishikawa


. Ishikawa Eisuke Ishikawa 石川英輔 - Introduction .

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Just Enough: Lessons in Living Green from Traditional Japan
地球を救う江戸先進のエコロジー
by Azby Brown / アズビー・ブラウン



The world has changed immeasurably over the last thirty years, with more, bigger, better being the common mantra. But in the midst of this constantly evolving world, there is a growing community of people who are looking at our history, searching for answers to issues that are faced everywhere, such as energy, water, materials, food and population crisis.

In Just Enough, author Azby Brown turned to the history of Japan, where he finds a number of lessons on living in a sustainable society that translate beyond place and time. This book of stories depicts vanished ways of life from the point of view of a contemporary observer, and presents a compelling argument around how to forge a society that is conservation-minded, waste-free, well-housed, well-fed and economically robust.

Included at the end of each section are lessons in which Brown elaborates on what Edo Period life has to offer us in the global battle to reverse environmental degradation. Covering topics on everything from transportation, interconnected systems, and waste reduction to the need for spiritual centers in the home, there is something here for everyone looking to make changes in their life.
- source : www.amazon.com

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- - - - - Reference



大江戸リサイクル事情 - 石川英輔

Check vocabulary (CB)
- source : note.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp

With illustrations - collecting and repairing 回収業者 - 修理・再生業者　
- source : simofuri.com/recycle

http://blog.q-q.jp/201308/article_6.html
http://homepage2.nifty.com/kenkakusyoubai/zidai/syobai.htm - TBA
http://shigoto-creator.com/396/ - TBA


早業七人前　(at the National Bibliothek)
- source : http://dl.ndl.go.jp/info

大江戸リサイクル事情
- source : kinokokumi.blog13.fc2.com

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"Man with broom and cloth"
Katsushika Hokusai　北斎　 (1760-1849)

source :　www.asia.si.edu/collections

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. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .


. Japanese Architecture - cultural keywords used in haiku .


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- #recycle #reuse #ecology -
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