REKIHAKU

No.105 A Witness to History

The Hashihime Picture Scrolls

The box in which this picture scroll from the Takamatsu-miya Imperial Court was found is inscribed in ink with "The Tale of Hashihime" (Hashihime monogatari). It is for this reason that this picture scroll from the main collection of the National Museum of Japanese History is named the Hashihime Picture Scroll. One would imagine that this scroll would depict a god or "hashihime" (goddess of bridges) enshrined in the base of a bridge. However, if one peruses the scroll what is found is a single, colored, paper scroll with a gold dust-sprinkled picture depicting visitors at Asakusa Temple. The artist is unknown and, in fact, it is not known if this was the original box. It is very likely that the box for The Tale of Hashihime, a type of fairy tale picture scroll, was used in substitution for this picture scroll.

Nevertheless, Asakusa, like Ryogoku, was one of the main amusement quarters of Edo and continues to be an amusement quarter today. The arcade, which is lined with a total of 86 shops on both sides and stretches about 140 meters between two gates from Kaminari-mon to Houzou-mon, continues to fascinate middle-aged and elderly people, as well as young people and foreigners who are attracted by its retro-Edo atmosphere. It is known as a part of Tokyo where tourists can get a feel for the old city of Edo.

The Hashihime Picture Scroll portrays a scene from the Sumida River to the mountains behind the Asakusa Temple Kannon-do. Known examples of similar works include the British Museum collection's Almanac of Edo Scenery - Pictures of Asakusa (Edo fuzoku zukan - Asakusa no zu). Popular spots around the Asakusa area were the street known as Hirokoji and from the Kaminari-mon gate to the Kannon-do hall as appearing in the Edo Souvenir Picture book (Ehon Edo miyage) and from the Kaminari-mon to the mountains behind the Kannon-do in the Atlas of Famous Places in Edo (Edo meisho zue).

The beginning of the picture scroll shows scenes of people playing and cooling off in the waters of the Sumida River near the Komagata-do. This illustrates how Asakusa, like Ryogoku, was also a water front amusement area. A festival marking the start of the water season on the Sumida River was held on the 28th day of the fifth month according to the old calendar. The three month period, until the end of the Eighth Month, was the season for swimming and boating on the river. The two men shown swimming in this picture scroll are clearly swimming after having removed their clothes, so this scroll portrays a summer scene.

Recreational boating is described as "Boating mountain" (funa-asobi-yama) in the Chronicles of the Eastern Capital (Tohto saijiki) and is described as enjoying the cool evening breezes on a boat keeper's passenger boat (Heibon-sha's Asian Book Collection, revised and annotated by Haruhiko Asakura). The main figures in this work are the Fukuichi Maru and the Horai Maru, two roofed boats that were rich men's pleasure boats. Roofed boats were called "sunshade boats" and they lacked the sturdy constitution of houseboats. These boats had a casual atmosphere, with roofs and rattan blinds, and were used for enjoying cool evening breezes, watching fireworks and shell gathering at low tide. In the Meiwa and Yasunaga eras, there were about 50 or 60 such boats. Around the era of Bunka, houseboats were in vogue and the number of such boats increased rapidly to between 500 and 600. There were many boat keepers and pleasure boat keepers mainly at Asakusa Gomon, Yanagi-bashi and around the Azuma-hashi area. They were used mainly for enjoying the evening breezes, for trips to and from the pleasure quarters and for banquets. According to "Morisada Mankou," "They are used for clandestine meetings between men and women and will also furnish banquets on the customer's request. They also bring patrons to the Aozakura brothels." There are five geisha in attendance on the Fukuichi Maru. The geisha shown reclining are probably of high rank.

The two men with shaved heads seem to be professional jesters. The passengers are at the height of enjoying their leisure. The boatmen on top of the roof are nibbling on dengaku (braised tofu dipped in a miso sauce and skewered on a stick) and enjoying a drink while they wait. On the Horai Maru the three boatmen are guiding the boat along with green bamboo poles so that it does not rock as the boat moves along with the current. Here also there are five geisha and two customers inside the drawn rattan blinds. And it can be thought that the man with the shaved head is again a professional jester. Here the geisha are singing and playing shamisen. In the bow of the boat there are red and green lacquered nested boxes containing meals. According to 100 Stories of Women in the Bakumatsu and Meiji periods (Bakumatsu Meiji onna hyaku-wa), the boatmen were remembered in this way, "The boatmen who pole the boats are lively and wear reddish-brown, three-foot-long obi and white cotton stomach bands, they deliberately expose themselves below the waist of their yukata. The sight of them as they are swept by the river breezes is dashing." In one of the pointed-bow open skiffs, called "chokibune", there are two passengers on their way to the Yoshiwara district, one wears a wide woven hat and the other wears a hood-like head covering of the type worn by priests, poetry masters, and doctors. The passenger in the skiff in front of the Komagata-do is sleeping, probably tired out on his way back from the Yoshiwara. In the third skiff are a mother and child under the shelter of a parasol. In the ferryboat in the foreground it appears that a priest, a seller of bamboo tea whisks and others are riding together, heading for the opposite shore. They are probably headed either just upstream to the Take-cho crossing to Nakagou (Tada yakushi), or slightly downstream to the Onmaya Crossing to Honjo Ishiwara-cho.

The jewel topped hall is the Komagata-do that was built facing the Sumida River. The Komagata-do spatially symbolizes the start of the famous Asakusa area. This is also the branching point of two main roads, the Nikko-kaido and the Asakusa Kannon Sando, so pilgrims arriving by ship also disembarked at the Komagata-do dock and continued on to Asakusa Temple.

Below the above mentioned sketch, this picture scroll shows the shops on the road from the Komagata-do to the Kannon-do on the side facing right (east). However, there is a mistake in the drawing between the Komagata-do and the Maruya tea house. The neighboring confectionery shop is a stand and "hakoshi", a type of paper used inside sliding screens, is hanging from an umbrella for use as wrapping paper. There is a fish shop, a money changer called Inoya, shops selling peaches, watermelons, wide woven hats and zori sandals (the store is named Yorozu). The lower (west side) shops are Nanacha - a tea house and a shop with a sign reading "Jo jo" selling scrubbing brushes and brooms. At the wooden gate is a small guard house (with a spear leaning up against it). To the right (west) is Zaimoku-cho. To the left (east) is a banner for Namiki-cho. The shops depicted are in Namiki-cho. At the wooden gate there is a man carrying a delivery box with "Komagata-cho, Komochi Masaruya" written on it. There is a confectionery shop called Koyo-ya with a sign that reads "Izumi Shinda Hattori, Koyo-ya, Finest of the finest". There is also an artificial flower shop with dyed hanging curtains reading "Artificial Flowers Betsumatsu". There is a shop selling portraits of beautiful women with the artist there painting a picture of mountains. And there is Takasago-ya which is the previously mentioned "Komochi Masaru-ya" that was written on a delivery box.

The gate which is found beyond Namiki-cho is Furaijin-mon, commonly known as Kaminari-mon. The two palanquins stopped in front of that are on a street called Asakusa Hirokoji. This gate was erected on the tenth day of the third month of Kansei 7 (1795). Since this gate was burned down in Keio 1 (1865) in a fire that started in Tahara-cho, one can surmise that the scene in this scroll was painted depicting the area at sometime within that 70-year span.

Between Furaijin-mon and the Niou-mon (also called Sakura-mon) that bears a plaque for Asakusa Temple, there is a small shop selling toys, hand and table mirrors, balls, bags, and color woodblock prints and a shop selling smoking pipes, bags, boxes and woodblock prints. It is said that the arcade's common name came from the fact that it was in between Asakusa Hirokoji and the stalls in front of the Kannon-do. To the east of this, a short distance away is a shop with a hanging curtain on which is written "Kiku-ya". From the Niou-mon (the present day Houzou-mon) to the temple annex on the east side were the "20 Tea Houses". There were tea houses with benches outside where temple visitors could enjoy tea called Lucky Tea (Ofuku no cha), and at some point the tea houses came to employ attractive young women to serve the tea and became popular. Kiku-ya was probably one such tea house.

Below the Niou-mon is something that looks like a shop selling braised tofu dipped in a miso sauce and skewered on a stick. Between the Niou-mon and the main temple hall, a five-storied pagoda, a bamboo tea whisk seller and a street lecture are shown. The street lecture is probably a recitation of a war tale such as the Taiheiki. In "Parables on Humanity" (Jinrin kinmou zui) the reciter of the Taiheiki is depicted as a poor man who performs on the street. According to Terakado Souken's "Chronicles of Edo Prosperity" (Edo hanjo-ki) the lectures were held in the mountains.

At the Kumagai Inari Shrine behind the main hall, townspeople are hanging votive pictures with a nightingale motif on a plum tree and offering prayers. In the previously mentioned "Almanac of Edo Scenery" (Edo fuzoku emaki), there are also similar scenes of votive pictures being hung up at the Kumagai Inari Shrine. Deep in the mountains there are no shows or performances depicted. At the base of a stand of pine trees there are some people elegantly taking tea.

The Hashihime Picture Scroll is muted in color tone and is clean in style. Not much individuality can be felt in the expressions of the human figures, which appear to be stereotypical. According to Mr. Junichi Okubo of this museum's Main Collection Information Reference Research Department, this scroll probably depicts a scene from the first half of the 18th century judging from the hair styles and the facial expressions in the style of Hishikawa Shisen. However, if the date of the construction of the Kaminari-mon is accurate, it is also possible that it may have been painted after that in a revival style.

(Toshio Fukuhara, Folklore and Folklife Department, National Museum of Japanese History)