Ukiyo-e, 100 Famous Views of Edo, 098 Fireworks at Ryogoku.

https://www.axera.co.jp/edo100views/index.html

Ukiyo-e series drawn by Hiroshige Ando in the Edo period,
100 Famous Views of Edo, the place where it was set
I asked him what was actually happening now.
Click here for Japanese version.
https://www.axera.co.jp/edo100/index.html

Please see the homepage for all the explanations.

I visited the actual location of my favorite 100 Famous Views of Edo, painted by Hiroshige Ando, to see what the scene looks like today.
In "Fireworks at Ryogoku" (098), the Ryogoku Bridge and fireworks are seen from Yanagibashi Bridge, where the Kanda River flows into the Sumida River.

First, please check its location on Applemap. Just 3 km east-northeast of the Edo Castle keep, the Ryogoku Bridge crosses the Sumida River.

I enlarged the map a little and added Hiroshige's viewpoint in red gradient. A little north of Ryogoku Bridge, the Kanda River flows in from the west, and a small bridge called Yanagibashi Bridge crossed the Kanda River just before the confluence. It is said that Hiroshige may have painted the fireworks seen from this bridge.

I covered this with an old map of the time. This is a fire prevention area that was built to prevent fires from spreading in Edo, where fires were common.

This vacant lot was called Ryogoku Hirokoji, and was lined with reed-bedecked restaurants that could be dismantled at any time, making it the busiest shopping area in Edo. Hiroshige painted a bird's-eye view of the Ryogoku Hirokoji from the west. You can see how bustling it was. I added Hiroshige's viewpoint here as well, using a red gradation.

With these images in mind, let's take a closer look at the actual Hiroshige painting.
The first impression is that it is dark. To emphasize the fireworks and the lights of the boats, the rest of the picture is almost entirely dark. If you look closely, you can see many Edo citizens enjoying the fireworks on the bridge. The bright lights of the lanterns on the boats, large and small, convey the feeling that the party is at its peak.

The large boat in the center is a houseboat, and its interior seems to have been about 20 tatami mats in size. The boats with lanterns on their bow ends were boats that sold snacks and drinks to customers. Smaller boats were boats with boars and roofs, and some boats performed Shinnai-song, Gidayu-song, and Kagee-pictures for the pleasure boats with customers on board. It looks like fun to watch.

The fireworks were popular for the way they hung down like willow branches after they went up, and people enjoyed seeing them with their eyes and tasting the sound of the launch and the smell of the gunpowder at the same time.There was also the fun of a live concert as we know it today, with everyone in the audience calling out "tamaya" and "kagiya" together to enjoy the sense of togetherness.

It was not until 1733 that fireworks began to be displayed annually on Ryogoku Bridge.
In 1735, a drought caused a poor rice harvest, and in 1735, a massive outbreak of locusts led to a severe famine, which caused rice prices to skyrocket and a cholera epidemic that killed nearly one million people in Edo. The 8th shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune, therefore held a "kawasegaki" to mourn the souls of the dead.
On May 28, Kyoho 18, 1733, or July 9 according to the solar calendar, the shogunate held a water god festival on the opening day of the Ryogoku river in order to pray for the spirits of the dead and to ward off bad luck, as was done the previous year. The origin of the Ryogoku Fireworks Festival is said to be the fireworks that were set off during the festival.

The Ryogoku Fireworks Festival was a very popular event for Edo citizens, and many ukiyoe prints have survived. Please see these in succession.

Now, I actually went to this location. This is the current Ryogoku Bridge, which has moved upstream a bit since that time.

This is the night view of Ryogoku Bridge as seen from around Yanagibashi Bridge today.

Fireworks were combined with this image and inserted into Hiroshige's painting.
The Ryogoku Fireworks Festival, which used to be held here, was repeatedly cancelled and resumed for various reasons before being moved upstream to the Kototoi Bridge area, where it continues to be held to this day. The name was changed from "Fireworks at Ryogoku" to "Sumida River Fireworks Festival".

In August 1897, the wooden parapet of the Ryogoku Bridge fell due to the weight of spectators, resulting in a catastrophic accident that killed and injured many people. This accident led to the Ryogoku Bridge being moved to its current location and rebuilt as an iron bridge.

Since then, the Sumida River Fireworks Festival has been broadcast live on TV by TV Tokyo since 1978, and has recently become an annual summer event.
In this way, fireworks have been a medicine to cheer people up since the Edo period. I hope it will continue for a long time.
Finally, please enjoy the final video of the 2016 Adachi Fireworks Festival.