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The Sumida River (???, Sumida-gawa) is a river which flows through Tokyo
Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
, Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi and flows into Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay

is a bay in the southern Kanto region of Japan. Its old name was ....
. Its tributaries include the Kanda
Kanda River

The stretches 24.6 km from Inokashira Park in Mitaka, Tokyo to the Sumida River under the Ryogoku Bridge at the boundary of Taito, Tokyo, Chuo, Tokyo, and Sumida, Tokyo....
 and Shakujii
Shakujii River

The is a river which flows throughthe northwest quadrant of central Tokyo, Japan.Its source is in the district of Hana-koganei-minami-cho, Kodaira, Tokyo, near...
 rivers.

What is now known as the "Sumida River" was previously the path of the Arakawa, however towards the end of the Meiji
Meiji period

The , or Meiji era, denotes the 45-year reign of the Meiji Emperor, running, in the Gregorian calendar, from 23 October 1868 to 30 July 1912. During this time, Japan started its modernization and rose to world power status....
 era work was carried out to divert the main flow of the Arakawa to prevent flooding.

It passes through the following wards of Tokyo:

noh
Noh

, or is a major form of classic Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Together with the closely-related Kyogen farce, it evolved from various popular, folk and aristocratic art forms, including Dengaku, Shirabyoshi, and Gagaku....
 play Sumidagawa, which the British composer Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, Order of Merit Order of the Companions of Honour was an England composer, conducting, viola and pianist....
 saw while visiting Japan in 1956, inspired him to compose Curlew River
Curlew River

Curlew River — A Parable for Church Performance is the first of three Church Parables by Benjamin Britten. The work is based on the Japanese language noh play Sumidagawa of Juro Motomasa , which Britten saw during a visit to Japan and the Far East in early 1956....
 (1964), a dramatic work based on the story.

The kabuki
Kabuki

is the highly stylised classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers....
 play, Sumidagawa--Gonichi no Omokage, is perhaps better known by the title Hokaibo, which is the name of the central character.






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Sumidagawa River
The Sumida River (???, Sumida-gawa) is a river which flows through Tokyo
Tokyo

, officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan of Japan and located on the eastern side of the main island Honshu. The twenty-three special wards of Tokyo, each governed as a city, cover the area that was once the Tokyo City in the eastern part of the prefecture, and total over 8 million people....
, Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
. It branches from the Arakawa River at Iwabuchi and flows into Tokyo Bay
Tokyo Bay

is a bay in the southern Kanto region of Japan. Its old name was ....
. Its tributaries include the Kanda
Kanda River

The stretches 24.6 km from Inokashira Park in Mitaka, Tokyo to the Sumida River under the Ryogoku Bridge at the boundary of Taito, Tokyo, Chuo, Tokyo, and Sumida, Tokyo....
 and Shakujii
Shakujii River

The is a river which flows throughthe northwest quadrant of central Tokyo, Japan.Its source is in the district of Hana-koganei-minami-cho, Kodaira, Tokyo, near...
 rivers.

What is now known as the "Sumida River" was previously the path of the Arakawa, however towards the end of the Meiji
Meiji period

The , or Meiji era, denotes the 45-year reign of the Meiji Emperor, running, in the Gregorian calendar, from 23 October 1868 to 30 July 1912. During this time, Japan started its modernization and rose to world power status....
 era work was carried out to divert the main flow of the Arakawa to prevent flooding.

It passes through the following wards of Tokyo:
  • Kita
  • Adachi
  • Arakawa
    Arakawa, Tokyo

    is a 23 special wards located in Tokyo, Japan. The ward takes its name from the river, the Arakawa River. Its neighbors are the wards of Adachi, Tokyo, Kita, Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Taito, Tokyo and Sumida, Tokyo....
  • Sumida
    Sumida, Tokyo

    is one of the Special wards of Tokyo of Tokyo, Japan. It calls itself Sumida City in English.As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 240,296 and a population density of 17,480 persons per square kilometer....
  • Taito
    Taito, Tokyo

    is one of the Special wards of Tokyo of Tokyo, Japan. In English, it calls itself Taito City .As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 175,346 and a population density of 15,890 persons per square kilometre....
  • Koto
    Koto, Tokyo

    is one of the Special wards of Tokyo of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, the ward has an estimated population of 442,271 and a population density of 11,070 persons per km?....
  • Chuo
    Chuo, Tokyo

    is one of the 23 special wards that form the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself as Chuo City in English.Its Japanese name literally means "Central Ward," and it is historically the main commercial center of Tokyo, although Shinjuku has risen to challenge it since the end of World War II....


Culture

The noh
Noh

, or is a major form of classic Japanese musical drama that has been performed since the 14th century. Together with the closely-related Kyogen farce, it evolved from various popular, folk and aristocratic art forms, including Dengaku, Shirabyoshi, and Gagaku....
 play Sumidagawa, which the British composer Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten

Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, Order of Merit Order of the Companions of Honour was an England composer, conducting, viola and pianist....
 saw while visiting Japan in 1956, inspired him to compose Curlew River
Curlew River

Curlew River — A Parable for Church Performance is the first of three Church Parables by Benjamin Britten. The work is based on the Japanese language noh play Sumidagawa of Juro Motomasa , which Britten saw during a visit to Japan and the Far East in early 1956....
 (1964), a dramatic work based on the story.

The kabuki
Kabuki

is the highly stylised classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers....
 play, Sumidagawa--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 Heisei Nakamura-za in the Lincoln Center Festival in New York in the summer of 2007, with Nakamura Kansaburo XVIII leading the cast.

Literature


The poet Matsuo Basho
Matsuo Basho

was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Basho was recognized for his works in the collaborative Renku form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku....
 lived by the Sumida River, alongside the famous banana tree (Japanese: basho) from which he takes his nom de plume
Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her writings, or for any of a number of...
.

The Sumida River appears in a haiku by Issa from 1820:

spring peace--
a mouse licking up
Sumida River

Sumida 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 Senju Ohashi or 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-bashi or Sakura Bridge, dating from 1985.


  • The Kototoi-bashi or 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-bashi or Azuma Bridge, dating from 1931, replaced the bridge which was first built in 1774. This bridge is closest to Asakusa Station
    Asakusa Station

    is a railway station in the Asakusa district of Taito, Tokyo, Japan.Note that the Tsukuba Express Asakusa Station is located about 600 m to the west....
     and the Kaminari-Mon.


  • The Komagata-bashi or the Komagata Bridge, dating from 1927, takes its name from the Matsugata temple dedicated to Bato-Kanon.


  • The Umaya-bashi or the Umaya Bridge, dating from 1929, replaced a bridge built in 1875.


  • The Ryogoku-bashi or Ryogoku Bridge, dating from 1932, replaced a bridge built in 1659. This bridge was immortalized many times by Hiroshige
    Hiroshige

    was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Ando Hiroshige and by the art name of Ichiyusai Hiroshige ....
    .


  • The Shin Ohashi or the New Bridge
    New Bridge

    New Bridge may refer to:* New Bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica, Kosovo, Serbia* Nov? Most, Bratislava, Slovakia*New Bridge Landing, New Jersey, USA...
    , dating from 1976, replaced a bridge built in 1693. This bridge was not far from the Ryogoku Bridge.


  • The Kiyosu-bashi or the Kiyosu Bridge, dating from 1938, links Kiyosu with Nihonbashi-Nakasu.


  • The Nihon-bashi or Nihon bridge, dating from the 1600s, was the bridge at which the Naksendo and Tokaido terminated (or the place from which they were said to have begun) during the Edo period. In those days, this bridge was called the Edo-bashi or Edo Bridge.


  • The Eitai-bashi or Eitai Bridge, dating from 1924, replaces a bridge built in 1696.
  • The Chuo Ohashi or the Chuo Bridge, dating from 1994, is the most recently built of the bridges across the Sumida. See photo here


  • The Tsukuda Ohashi or Tsukuda Bridge, dating from 1964 , was the first bridge built after World War II
    World War II

    World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
    , crossing the river from Tsukiji
    Tsukiji

    Tsukiji is a district of Chuo, Tokyo, Japan, the site of the Tsukiji fish market. Literally meaning "land reclamation," it lies near the Sumida River on land reclaimed from Tokyo Bay in the 1700s, during the Edo period....
     to Tsukishima
    Tsukishima

    Tsukishima is a place located in Chuo, Tokyo, Japan. It is an island formed of Reclaimed land completed in 1892, using earth from the dredging work performed to create a shipping channel in Tokyo Bay....
    .


  • The Kachidoki Ohashi or Kachidoki Bridge was constructed in 1940 for the commemoration of the victory of the Japanese army at Lushun during the Russo-Japanese War. This bridge is the only drawbridge on the Sumida, and has not been raised since 1970.

External links

  • National Archives of Japan
  • National Archives of Japan
  • New York Public Library Digital Gallery