Apr 26, 2012

34景隅田川水神の森真崎 View34 The Sumida River Trees of Suijin Shrine and Massaki


手前の大きな桜が広重らしいです。きれいですね。

隅田川の手前に見える鳥居が水神社。
水神の森に守られています。そして対岸が真崎です。

I like the big cherry tree in the front.  
Hiroshige liked this kind of composition, arranging an object in front of a wide scenery.

Suijin (God of water) Shrine sits on this side of the Sumida River, surrounded by tall trees.  
The other side is the area called Massaki.


このあたりには8代将軍徳川吉宗によって桜が植えられ、江戸時代には上野、飛鳥山と並ぶ桜の名所だったそうです。

飛鳥山に桜を植えたのも吉宗でしたね。
吉宗は桜が好きな将軍だったんでしょうか?

In Edo era, this area was famous for beautiful cherry blossoms, along with Ueno and Asukayama. 
Those trees were planted by the 8th Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune.

He planted the trees in Asukayama, too.
He must have liked cherry blossoms.



水神社は現在隅田川神社と呼ばれています。
隅田川の総鎮守で、1180年源頼朝によって創建されたと伝えられます。
でも行ってみると、意外に小さな神社でした。

Suijin Shrine is now called Sumidagawa Shrine.  
It is the guardian god of the Sumida River.
It is said that Minamotono Yoritomo first built the shrine in 1180.
But when I went there, I found it rather small.



しかも首都高が真後ろを走っています。なんだかかわいそう。

Besides, the highway is running right behind the shrine.  
I felt sorry!



でも小さいながらに趣のある神社でしたよ。
水神社というだけあって狛犬のかわりが…。

Even so, it had a certain atmosphere.
Instead of a pair of guardian dogs as in most shrines,



亀でした。なぜか耳付き!

turtles guard the shrine.  Look! They have ears!


あたりは東白鬚(しらひげ)公園という広い公園です。
4月のなかば桜がきれいでした。

The shrine sits right by a big park, Higashi Shirahige Park.
I was there in the middle of April.



桜吹雪が…。

Flower petals were falling like snow.
We call it Sakura Fubuki. 



それでは昔と同じように桜と神社を入れて写真を撮ってみましょう。

Well, just like Hiroshige, I took a picture with a cherry tree and the shrine.




壁が立ちはだかり隅田川は見えません。残念!

The Sumida River is behind the tall concrete wall.  Oh, well... 

ちなみに隅田川沿いの遊歩道に立つと、対岸はこんな感じ。
巨大なガスタンクが見えました。

I walked to the river.  
When you stand at the riverbank, this is what you see.
You see big gas tanks.














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2 comments:

Rurousha said...

Wheee!I was here this morning! I went to 隅田川神社 near Kanegafuchi Station, as part of my ongoing Sumida research.

When I came back and did a bit of Googling, I found this:

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/121649/Suijin_Shrine_and_Massaki_on_the_Sumida_River_Sumidagawa_Suijin_no_Mori_Massaki_No._35_from_One_Hundred_Famous_Views_of_Edo

"I bet Merry Witch has written about this," I thought. So I Googled some more, and ... yes!

It started raining so hard on my way back that every shitamachi alley was like a mini-Sumida. I was ankle-deep in water. I thought it was very appropriate and excellent timing. (^0^) So I put my umbrella away and walked in the downpour and everybody looked at me as if I was crazy. I'm not crazy! I was just celebrating the water gods!

I'm so glad I discovered this older post of yours, because I could only find Japanese websites about this shrine. There's nothing in English, and it's VERY DIFFICULT for me to decipher Japanese sites. (>_<)

Yay! Merry Witch can help me!

Merry Witch said...

Rurousha,
You are really going to write a book, aren't you? (^^)

Did it rain so hard this morning? Here in Saitama, it just drizzled a bit. You celebrated the water gods in the most decent way. Hooray!