Jul 16, 2012

114景 虎の門外あふひ坂 View114 OutsideToranomon Aoi-zaka Slope


今でいう虎ノ門近くの冬の景色です。
星のまたたく夜空に雁の群れが飛んでいます。
まだ宵の口でしょうか?

This is near Toranomon.  It is winter.
In the sky full of stars, we can see wild geese flying in the shape of a reversed Z.
I suppose it's the early part of the night.

あふひ坂と書いて葵坂。夜になっても人通りは多いようです。
緑の着物の男の人は蕎麦屋さん。
蕎麦屋の屋台をかついで歩くんですね。
あの中に道具一式が入ってるんでしょうか?

Aoi-zaka slope looks busy even at night.
Do you see a man in green carrying an interesting thing on his shoulder?  That thing is a mobile soba stool.  He is selling soba.
How did he put all the thing he needs for making soba in that?


右手にある滝が落ちているところは、溜池をせき止めていた堰です。
溜池は徳川家康の命で1609年に作られました。
増え続ける江戸市民の飲み水をためる貯水池です。

There is a big waterfall.  Water is falling down from a big dam above, which was called Tameike.
Tameike was built in 1609 by the order of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
It was to reserve enough drinking water to meet the needs of  the growing population of Edo.

明治になって、水道設備が整うと役割を終え、か細い流れとなり、やがて消滅してしまいました。


In the Meiji period, after the Edo, the new waterworks system was built, and Tameike became smaller and smaller, until it was all gone.    

この堰のあったところは現在
Where the waterfall once was, now stands   

特許庁です。
the patent office.


さて、もう一度広重の絵です。
手前にいるふんどし姿の二人連れ。
こんな寒い冬の夜に何をしているんでしょう?

Hiroshige's picture again.  
Do you see two men without their kimono on?
Who are they and what are they doing at such cold winter night?

この二人は、職人の弟子です。
近くにある虎ノ門金毘羅神社へ寒参りに行った帰りです。
寒参りとは職人の弟子が技術の上達を願って、冬の夜30日間寺社にお参りすることだそうですよ。

They are apprentice craftsmen and are on their way home from their religious visit to Toranomon Konpira Shrine nearby. Hoping to be a good craftsman, they are visiting the shrine at night for 30 days during winter, without their kimono on.

金毘羅神社は讃岐丸亀藩領主京極家の敷地内にありました。1660年讃岐金毘羅神社より分祀し、まず芝、三田の屋敷に勧進。
その後1679年に現在の虎ノ門の地に移りました。

Konpira Shrine was located in the residence of the Kyogoku clans of Sanuki (Kagawa prefecture today).  
Sanuki has a famous Konpira Shrine.  
In 1660, they made its branch shrine in their residence in Mita, Edo.
In 1679, they all moved to Toranomon.

さあ、虎ノ門金毘羅神社に行ってみましょう。

Let's go and see Toranomon Konpira Shrine.

これが最初の鳥居です。

This is the first shrine gate.
見上げると、
When you look up, 
こんな高いビルの真下です。
Wow, it's right below this tall building!


でも中に入っていくと、立派な社殿がありました。


But once you go through it, it is a shrine all right.

神社は第二次世界大戦で焼失。
社殿は1951年に再建されました。

Konpira Shrine was burned down during WWⅡ and was re-built in 1951.

江戸の大名屋敷に神社が併設されることはよくありました。
お賽銭収入を期待して、一般に公開することもあったようです。

In Edo, some of the feudal lords had a shrine in their residence. 
They could get offerings by allowing people to visit their shrine.

お賽銭収入アップを期待してでしょうか、金毘羅神社には銅製の変わった鳥居がありました。

Maybe it was to attract more visitors, Konpira Shrine had this unique shrine gate of copper.
1821年製 made in 1821

東を守護する青龍と北を守護する玄武
Azure Dragon of the East and Black Tortoise of the North

南を守護する朱雀と西を守護する白虎 
Vermilion Bird of the South and White Tiger of the West


これは百度石。
願いをかなえるために、この石と社殿の間を100回往復したそうです。


This is Hyakudo-ishi (100 times stone).
In old days, people believed that if you walk back and forth between this stone monument and the main shrine a hundred times and give a prayer each time, your wish will be granted.

そこのベンチに腰を下ろして、かわいい雀を眺めたり一休み。
ビルの谷間にあるオアシス。なかなか面白かったです。

I sat on a bench there, looking at friendly sparrows.  
It was like an oasis in a big city.  
I enjoyed the interesting combination of the city and the shrine.

さて広重の絵に戻りましょう。
江戸切絵図と今の地図を照らし合わせると、葵坂は虎の門病院やJTグループの本社付近になります。

Back to Hiroshige's picture.  
Comparing the old Edo map and today's map, Aoi-zaka slope is very close to Toranomon hospital and the head office of JT group.

虎の門病院 Toranomon Hospital
JT本社 JT  Head Office
葵坂はこの辺りでしょう。というわけで、

So I believe this is close enough to Aoi-zaka slope.  


正面のビルが堰のあった特許庁です。
昔をしのぶものは何も見つけられませんでした。 (T_T)

The building in front is the patent office, where the waterfall was.  
But there was nothing that reminds us of the old days.   (T_T)


にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 国際交流へ

10 comments:

Rurousha said...

Your posts are just getting more and more and more interesting. Happy. ^^

So that's where the name Tameike-Sannō comes from! I've travelled through that station so often, and I never knew its history.

I've also walked past Konpira Shrine's outer torii several times, but I've never gone inside. Silly woman. I didn't realize there was such an interesting shrine inside. I love the detail on the copper torii.

PS: Is that a white fox I see in the woodblock print? Or is it just a dog?

Merry Witch said...

Rurousha,
I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying my blog. I really do appreciate your comments. Thank you so much!

About the animals in the picture... According to the book I read, and according to Henry D. Smith who has written several books on Japanese woodblock prints, they are dogs. But to be honest, they don't look like dogs to me. They look like cats to me. Does the white one look like a fox to you?
But I suppose we have to pay respects for the experts.
They are DOGS!

Rurousha said...

I think I just WANT them to be foxes because I'm fascinated by kitsune myths. I'll accept the experts' opinion, but if you ask ME, it's a 変化 that can change at will into a cat or a dog. ;)

Merry Witch said...

OK, you won. They are foxes. (^_^)v

I wasn't so much into kitsune things until I read your posts about them. Now, I'm like, "I have to see kitsune!! Where is kitsune??"
I'm going to visit Kyoto this summer. I'm really looking forward to visiting Fushimi Inari Jinja! \(^o^)/

Tall Gary said...

I agree with Rurousha. Fascinating posts. I like the way you show us the same vantage point today, but often far from the same view.

I didn’t notice that the torii gate was copper. And from 1821! Thank you for such interesting information.

Since, during the Edo period, the Toranomon Shrine was within the precincts of the estate of the Kyōgoku lord of Marugame, it might be appropriate that the contemporary shrine is within the precincts of some kind of (economic?) power. I wonder if that modern building has any association with the Kyōgoku lord of Marugame.

It is also interesting that Henry D. Smith mentions that the central soba vender was selling nihachi soba (“‘two eights’ after their price, sixteen mon”). And the lower right seller offered “...ōhira shippoku, noodles on a wide shallow dish with sliced toppings such as fried egg, mushroom, fishcake, and water chestnut.”

The supine animal certainly does resemble a fox but the head of the sitting one (not the body) looks to me like seal with ears. They both have pronounced whiskers like cats. After Tsunayoshi, I wonder how late into the Edo period dogs led a “dog’s life.” I’ll just bet though that a couple foxes charmed Hiroshige into adding their portraits, with him hardly aware of it, into the scene.

Merry Witch said...

The modern building is 26-story Toranomon Kotohira Tower. It was built in 2004. The Jinja's religious organization and Mitsui Fudosan own the building together, but I'm not sure about Kyogoku family.

Seal with ears? (^_^;) It's becoming like a Rorschach test!

Minoru Saito said...

こんばんは。Rurousha に導かれてここまで来ました。
 私もこの本を持ってますが、意外な事に気が付きました。
 私の本は、ここは113景です。他のブログも拝見しましたが、一致しませんでした。
 何々本と言う数種類の江戸名所江戸百景があるという事ですね。
 江戸の古地図と合わせながら散歩するなんてとても良いアイデアです。
 今後じっくりブログを読ませていただきたいと思ってます。
 ちなみに私の本は岩波書店発行で著者が、Henry Smith です。

Merry Witch said...

Minoru Saito さま
ご覧くださりありがとうございます。しかもコメントも。嬉しいです。

作品の番号についてですが、実は私が参考にしている2冊の本でも番号が違います。

小学館の「広重名所江戸百景」は岩崎コレクション所蔵本を底本にした大変印刷のきれいな本です。このブログではその番号にしたがっています。

現在の場所を探すのは人文社出版の「江戸切絵図で歩く 広重の大江戸名所百景散歩」を参考にしています。こちらの本では確かにこれは113景です。

またいろいろ教えてください。よろしくお願いします。

Tall Gary said...

When I saw this tonight I thought of our nihachi soba street-stall man above and wondered if he could have been going to the Ichimura-za Kabuki Theater but this was in 1897 when the Ichimura-za was in Asakusa. Too far and long for him to walk...

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary
So, that's how he made soba in that stall! Very interesting picture.

If you were the sobaya-san, I bet you wouldn't mind walking to Asakusa. (^_-)