Oct 22, 2012

48景 赤坂桐畑 View 48 The Paulownia Garden at Akasaka

前回の49景と同じく、これも赤坂です。
前回も書きましたが、江戸時代赤坂から虎ノ門まで細長いひょうたん形の池があり、溜池と呼ばれていました。
享保年間(1716~36年)、土手の補強のためにこの辺りに桐の木が多く植えられ、あたりは桐畑と呼ばれるようになったとか。

Along with View 49, this is also Akasaka.
In the time of Edo, there was a big, gourd-shaped pond called Tameike, which  stretched from Akasaka  to Toranomon.
Around 1716-36, many Paulownia trees were planted to protect the west bank of Tameike, and people started to call the area the Paulownia Garden. 

広重は桐の木の間から南東を眺めています。

Hiroshige is standing in the trees and looking southeast.

左手の丘は山王台で、その上に日枝神社があります。
この神社のお祭りが江戸三大祭りの一つ山王祭。
(広重はその様子を66景で描いています。)

The hill on the left is Sannodai.  A big shrine, Hie Jinja is on the hilltop.
The shrine holds Sanno Festival, one of the three most famous festivals in Edo.
(Hiroshige depicted the scene in View 66.)

さて、日枝神社に行ってみました。

I went to the Hie Shrine.
 
この緑の山が山王台ですが、周りのビルのほうが高いです。
幅広の階段の横にはエスカレーターもありますが、私は…

The hill Sannodai doesn't look so high compared to all those tall buildings surrounding it.  
Instead of the broad staircase (and they have an escalator if you like),  I prefer climbing up...

この細い鳥居の階段を上っていくのが好きです。

 these narrow steps under red Torii. 
赤いトンネルみたいで。

It's like a red tunnel. 
 上るのもそんなに大変ではないですよ。

It's not so hard (when you compare it with Fushimi Inari, it's nothing.)  

さて、これが神門。たくさんの酒樽が迎えてくれます。

This is Shinmon, the entrance gate.
You are welcomed by a lot of sake barrels offered by the breweries.

これが社殿。

This is the main Shrine.

日枝神社の神のお使いはお猿さん。
夫婦猿が狛犬がわりです。

Monkeys are the messengers of the Hie Shrine.
  
お父さん father monkey

子供を抱いたお母さん mother with a baby

私が行った日は雨でとても静かな境内でした。

I was there on a rainy day and it was very, very quiet.

が、2年前に行ったときは晴天で、しかも七五三のお参りの人がたくさんいて、にぎやかでした。

But when I was there two years ago, a lot of people were there to celebrate Shichigosan. (It is a celebration of their children's growth at the age of seven, five and three.)

さて、広重です。
前回も書きましたが、溜池は明治時代に埋め立てられ外堀通りとなりました。
外堀通り沿いを歩いて、ちょうどいい場所を探します。通りが広重の描いた溜池のようにカーブするところ、そして山王台が通りの向こうに見えるところですよね。

Anyway, back to Hiroshige.
As I wrote in my previous post, Tameike was buried in the Meiji period and now became Sotobori Street.
I walked along Sotobori Street and looked for the right location; where the street curves like Hiroshige's pond and where I can see Sannodai hill across the street. 



 山王台はビルに隠れていますが、ここなら日枝神社手前の木がよく見えます。それに、道のカーブの仕方もちょうどいいですね。

The hill was behind the building, but I could see the front trees of the shrine.  And the street curved like Hiroshige's pond.

たぶんこのあたりがいいとは思うんですが、問題は広重の絵の真ん中の木がないことですね。

I think this is the right location.
But then, a problem.
It's missing the tree in the center.

少し赤坂見附よりに戻ってみました。これでどうでしょう?

I walked back a little toward Akasaka Mitsuke.
Well, what do you think of this photo?

この自転車が残念!(>_<)

Well, these bicycles!(>_<)

でも今回はこの一枚を採用することにしました。(^_^)v
 
But I've decided this is the photo for today. (^_^)v

にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 国際交流へ

18 comments:

Rurousha said...

I love your determination to find a modern photo as near as possible to the original print. ^^

Were there any suspicious guards around this time, glaring at the strange woman with her map and camera? ;)

Inari! Yay! Red torii! No foxes at the main shrine, but that's OK, the monkeys are cute.

PS: Hie Jinja is one of my favourites.

Merry Witch said...

Rurousha,
Yes, you can laugh at me! Such a silly determination!(^o^)

I love going under a red torii tunnel. Wherever I see it, I have to go through it. The air feels different, don't you think?

Minoru Saito said...

こんばんは。私はエスカレータで登ってしまいました。
 あのお猿さんの愛称は「まさるくん」ですね。「魔去る」と言って縁起が良いそうです。
溜池が外堀通りになっているとは知りませんでした。

Merry Witch said...

Minoru Saito さま
「魔去る」で「まさる」?なるほど!それで「さる」なんですね。そんな愛称があったなんて知りませんでした。 (^o^)

溜池が外堀通りなんて私もびっくりしました。江戸ってけっこう残っているんですね。


Tall Gary said...

I have to smile again at how close you capture with your photo at the bottom the similar (still, after 156 years) view of Hiroshige’s print.

It was serendipitous that you visited on a rainy day. Henry Smith said of the sky,“The sky above, suggesting the aftermath of a passing thundershower...”

I loved Minoru’s comment above about the nickname of the monkey being Masaru-kun. We think of saru as “monkey” but masaru, as he mentioned, can be written in kanji that means something like “to drive off evil spirits.” I am fond of puns.

I like the bicycles. They help form a curved line all the way from the taxi cab. The blue bus gives us a little Tameike-water color.

Really nice.

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary,

Oh, Henry Smith said this is after the thundershower?? Then, it was good that I was there on a rainy day.

And thank you for your comment about bicycles and the blue bus. It made me feel better about the photo.

Also it was nice of you to put Minoru's comment to English.

Thank you! You are so kind! (^o^)

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Tall Gary said...

If Hiroshige can have stray dogs in his prints (or foxes if Rurousha reads this), I think it is perfectly fine for you to have stray bicycles. Also we can get a better sense of the variety of human activity in your scene.

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary
That's right! Hiroshige's prints were not just about the scenery. He was showing a lot of human activities (and stray foxes...I gave in to Rurousha(^^)).

Then, why should I not include them?
Thank you for a great suggestion! \(^o^)/

Tall Gary said...

(How did you learn a three-word idiom like ”give in to” and use it perfectly? Were you an exchange student? Did you live in an-English speaking country for a long time? Simply have a love of English? All three? None?)

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary,
I'm so flattered!\(^o^)/

1)was an exchange student in high school 2)lived in the US for about three years 3) do love English

Still, it's difficult. I make many mistakes and use odd expressions. Please forgive that, with your big heart. (^^)

Thank you!

Merry Witch said...

Anonymous,
Thank you very much for leaving a comment! I would like to visit your site, but don't know where to.
Thanks anyway.(^^)

キャラメル said...

日枝神社の神のお使いがお猿さんなんてとてもユニークですね。猿年のわたしが座っているようで笑ってしまいました。広重の絵を見るたびに子供時代に見た風景と重なって懐かしく見ています。桐の木は、昔はたくさん植えられていて、嫁入りの箪笥や下駄の材料としていましたが最近は桐の木が少なく桐の箪笥はとても高価なものになってしまいました。ちなみに、私の父は箪笥つくりのしょくにんでした。

Merry Witch said...

キャラメルさま
お父様は箪笥つくりの職人さんだったんですか?すごいですねぇ!桐ダンスは着物を入れるのに欲しいと思ったこともあるけれど高くって。

キャラメルさんにとって広重の絵の世界が「懐かしい」というのが不思議な気がします。ついこの間まで私たちの営みは江戸のころとあまり変わっていなかったんでしょうかね?いまは、ずいぶん、違いますね。

Tall Gary said...

Don’t worry about your English. Whenever you do make the quite rare mistake it gives your English writing a hint of a charming foreign accent. Your few mistakes are just enough so that we can sometimes see your Japanese heart peeking out.

Your skill and fluency in English is something that you can be proud of.

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary,
Thank you for your kind words. I feel very encouraged. (^o^)

Rurousha said...

FOXES RULE!

犬は外! 狐は内! (^0^)

Merry Witch said...

Rurousha,
Hooray for foxes! \(^o^)/