Dec 27, 2012

109景 芝うらの風景 View 109 View of Shibaura

広重は芝浦の船の上から南に広がる江戸湾を見ています。
松が茂っているのが将軍家の別荘、浜御殿。
左手の木組みは水路標識。
そして、木組みの向こう、いくつか灰色にぽっかり見えているのはお台場です。

Hiroshige is on a boat at the mouth of Edo Bay, looking south.
On the right is the shogun's villa called Hama Goten (Beach Palace), with a lot of pine trees.
The two wooden objects on the left are the channel markers.
It's hard to see, but to the left, behind those channel markers, are a few gray forms.
Those are Odaiba.

お台場っていうと…

Odaiba... Sounds familiar?
Yes, we do have Odaiba today.

今はこれですよね。

It's this
あるいは…

and this.
フジテレビ本社 Fuji TV Headquarters

東京湾に浮かぶ人工の島で、ホテル、ショッピングモール等々楽しいものがいっぱいです。

It's a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay with big hotels, big shopping malls and a lot more. 

もともとお台場とは大砲の砲台を据えるために作られた人工島のことでした。1853年黒船でやってきたペリーは日本に開国を迫った後、翌年また来ると言って一度帰っていきました。幕府は江戸を守るため、急きょ江戸湾にお台場建設を開始。8基が完成したそうです。広重のこの絵は1856年改印ですから、まさにできたてのお台場を描いたんですね。

Originally, Odaiba meant artificial islands for cannon batteries.  In 1853, Commodore Perry in Black Ships came to Japan for the first time and demanded the opening of the country.  He was coming back the next year.  In order to protect Edo, Tokugawa shogunate started constructing these islands in the Edo Bay.  They finished 8 of them.  This print of Hiroshige was published in 1856, so those islands were the new sight for the Edo people.

1基は今もそのまま残されているとか。
下の写真でレインボーブリッジの脇にある緑におおわれているのがおそらくそうだと思います。

There still remains one island today.
I believe it's the round-looking one by the bridge.  The bridge, Rainbow Bridge, connects Odaiba to the central Tokyo.

さて、広重の絵にもどりましょう。
小さな鳥が水上を飛んでいてかわいいですね
ゆりかもめです。

Back to Hiroshige.
A lot of cute gulls are flying across the water in the print.
They are yurikamome.

ゆりかもめ、と言えば…


Yurikamome... Again, sounds familiar?
お台場へ行くときに乗るのが新交通ゆりかもめですね。
コンピューター制御で運転手さんなしで走っているんですよ~。

Yes, it's the name of the new transit system that takes you to Odaiba.

What makes it new is that it is a totally computerized train with  no driver. 

さて浜御殿はどうなったでしょうか?

明治維新の後、皇室の離宮となり、戦後東京都に下賜されました。今は浜離宮庭園として一般に公開されています。

Now, what has become of the shogun's villa?
After the Meiji Restoration, it became the detached garden of the Imperial Family.  After WWⅡ, the Imperial Family granted it to Tokyo Metropolitan Government.   It is now called Hama-rikyu Teien and is open to public.

浜離宮庭園に行ってみましょう。


Let's go to the park.



  
大手門跡の石垣 the remains of the Otemon Gate




潮入の池と池の中に浮かぶ中島の御茶屋

Shioiri-no-ike pond (seawater tidal pond) and Nakajima tea house in the center

海水を引き入れた潮入の池は、潮の干満によって趣を変えます。
将軍たちはこの御茶屋で休憩しながらその眺めを楽しんだんでしょうね。

This pond takes in seawater from the flood gate.

So, its water level goes up and down with the tide, bringing changes to the garden's atmosphere.
Shoguns and his guests must have enjoyed the scenery from this tea house.

私たちも500円でお抹茶をいただきながら、眺めを楽しみました。

We also enjoyed the view and green tea for 500 yen.


庭園には鴨場も二つあります。将軍たちはここで鷹狩を楽しみました。


In the park, there are two ponds for wild-duck hunting.
Shogun and his guests enjoyed Taka-gari (Japanese falconry).


鴨場とは池です。鴨がいっぱいいました。 a lot of ducks


説明を読んで鷹狩の方法を初めて知りました。

I learned how they did Taka-gari.

池のあひるを合図がしたら細い引堀に入ってくるよう仕込んでおきます。あひるにつられて鴨も引堀に入ってきます。機を見て土手から一気に飛び出して鴨を捕まえます。

They keep white domestic ducks in the pond and train them to

lead wild ducks into a narrow ditch.  Falconers hide behind the mound and wait.  When they see enough ducks in the ditch, they jump out of the mound and get wild ducks.   

引き堀と土手です。 narrow ditch and the mound

鴨はすぐに調理され、将軍やその客人が楽しんだとか。

Ducks were prepared right away.

Shogun and his guests enjoyed the feast.

江戸の名残とまわりの高層ビル群とのコントラストも楽しい公園でした。

 I enjoyed the contrast between the Edo atmosphere in the park and modern buildings around it.


というわけで、広重のような写真を撮らなければならないんですが。


Now, I have to take a photo like Hiroshige's print.


今回は名案がありました!浜離宮から出る浅草行の水上バスがあるので、広重と同じように船の上から写真を撮れるはずなんです。

嬉しく船に乗り込みました。

This time, I had a great plan! There is a boat that goes to Asakusa from the park.  I can actually take a photo on the boat like Hiroshige.  Feeling very happy, I got on the boat.


\(^o^)/


(T_T)  


ところが!私の計画は失敗!詳しくは書きませんが、浅草行の船だから北に向かっていくと思って船の一番後ろで構えていたところ、なぜか船は南に向かい私は逆の方向を向いていて…とにかくうまく撮れませんでした。
せめてもと大急ぎで撮った一枚はこれです。

But my plan didn't work.  I don't want to explain it in detail, but I thought we were heading north to Asakusa, so I sat in the back of the boat, but the boat actually headed south so I was looking at the wrong direction, and ...  Anyway, the best I could do was this quick shot.



石垣と松が撮れたのがせめてもの救いです。
At least I got the stone wall and pine trees. 

というわけで、今日の一枚はどうしましょう?


So, what should I do about today's photo?



船に乗る直前に撮ったものです。
だいたいいい方向を向いているとは思うんですが。左手に遠くレインボーブリッジも見えています。そして、1羽だけですが、カモメも飛んでいます。(小さいです ^_^;

This was taken right before I got on the boat.

I think I'm looking toward almost the right direction. There is the Rainbow Bridge in the distance.  I have even captured "a" gull. (It's small. ^_^;)

船の上で最初がっくりきていましたが、目の前にこんな素敵なレインボーブリッジが。



On the boat, I was feeling a little bit miserable.  But then, in front of me was this beautiful Rainbow Bridge.

左がお台場です Odaiba (left) and Central Tokyo (right)

すっかり元気になりました。(^_^)v

I just had to smile. (^_^)v


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15 comments:

Minoru Saito said...

こんばんは。凄い力作ですね。とても感動しました。取材とアップロードで何時間もかかった事を思うと頭が下がります。
 お写真の左が第六台場、右が第三台場ですね。
 浜離宮では1月2日と3日に鷹狩の実演をやってます。
 鴨狩りは、数十年前まで行われていて、宮内庁職員が鴨鍋にして食べていたと噂されています。
 この浜離宮の入り口は江戸城にも使われている枡形門の名残りです。
 良いお年をお迎え下さい。

Merry Witch said...

Minoru さま
お褒めいただき嬉しいです。\(^o^)/

お台場は二つ残っていると考えるべきだったんでしょうか?第三台場のほうはちょっと迷って(お台場とつながって公園になっているため)一つだけ残っていると書いてしまいました。

お正月に鷹狩の実演をやっているんですか?興味深いです。鴨鍋の噂も実に面白い。MinoruさまはRuroushaさんの言うとおり物知りですね。

どうぞよいお年を。

Rurousha said...

Wow! It was quite an epic journey to get these photos! That last one with the gull - yes, I can see it! - is perfect.

Wasn't it freezing cold on the river?

I've been to Odaiba only once. It was during my first trip to Tokyo, and I remember how startled I was when I realized the Yurikamome didn't have a driver! That's when it finally hit me: "Oookay, I'm not in Africa anymore." (@_@)

Rurousha said...

PS: Minoru-sensei should be declared a 人間国宝! :)

Merry Witch said...

Rurousha,
Yes, indeed Minoru-sensei should be a 人間国宝!

Could you see the gull with your eagle eye? Thank you! \(^o^)/ 

Can you imagine how surprised I was when I found the boat was heading south? That was sort of funny. Well, maybe another time.

Tina´s PicStory said...

wonderful pics! most i like the last one :)

Merry Witch said...

Tina,
Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I've just enjoyed your wonderful pictures of beautiful things! Wow! (*^_^*)

Danke schoen!

Tall Gary said...

I think that photo you got of the stone wall jutting into the picture frame from the right is really good! After all, as you know from Henry Smith’s note the stone wall has always been straight like that: “The wall of the palace was in fact straight. The artist has adopted the convention of a staggered pattern to vary the composition.”

So now you have visited the place where a certain person was staying when he planted this tree seen at your post here. Did you see the sign? Also here.

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary,
Yes, I saw the sign. He and his wife stayed in Japan for two months while they were going round-the-world tour! I wish I could travel like that! If I could, I wouldn't mind digging and planting a tree once in a while!

Thank you for a kind comment about the photo. But I think if I ride the boat from Odaiba to Hama Rikyu, I can take a photo more similar to Hiroshige's print. I'll try it if I have another opportunity, but as there are many places I want to visit, it won't happen soon.

Tall Gary said...

I see from Google Maps that you were facing south-east in the photo I like so much, when you wanted to be facing more southish. You would have had to face right when you came to the corner but the water channel there dead ends... Difficult. In the river itself is the concrete barrier that doesn’t look so good but has trees on it.

The picture you chose with the beautiful sky is really nice, and facing in the correct direction.

One interesting thing I learned from my search of the area today is that the contemporary yurikamome (as here) seem to prefer walking through the air rather than flying as in Hiroshige’s day.

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary,
Yes, Google Maps shows what my problem was exactly. What a wonderful tool! I should use it more often.

Now I feel good about my photo. The sky surely looks beautiful.

I saw many, many yurikamome lined like that at Hinode Sanbashi!

Tall Gary said...

This is as close as I could get with Google Maps to the viewpoint of Hiroshige. But you caught such a beautiful time and the balance of water and sky is close to that in Hiroshige’s print. We can see distinct pine branches in the print and you have those too. From the boat the trees in Hama Rikyu look like overgrown bushes. Not to mention you did catch a real yurikamome. Surely it is close enough, and I love the whites, pearl grays, and the lovely “chrome yellow.” It is a sigh-inducing photo.

I had been to Takeshiba Sanbashi a number of times on the way to the Izu Islands but I never realized how close it is Hama Rikyu, and Hinode Sanbashi. I could see some yurikamome near Hinode Pier here. They sure are cute.

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary,
Google Maps shows even the view from water? I'm surprised.
It is very close to Hiroshige's viewpoint, isn't it?

But your kind words made me really feel good about the photo. Thank you!

I took a boat from Takeshiba Sanbashi once when I went to Shikinejima island, a long time ago.


Tall Gary said...

If you click on the little yellow man in the top left, hold, and drag him to any blue line and release him, you can get a street view. Dropping him on a tiny square leads to photos .Clicking the X in the very top right brings you back to the map.

I went to Oshima, Kozushima, and Niijima, but never Shikinejima. The first time I went to Oshima (early 1990s) there wasn’t any real terminal like this. We waited for the boat out in the open rain while sitting in an old asphalt lot. I loved the modernizing changes I experienced while in Tokyo.

Merry Witch said...

Tall Gary,
Ah, that's how you do it! Sometimes, I get a street view all of a sudden, and I go like "I haven't done anything!" And I do something vigorously and it goes back to the map.,, you see, I'm so terrible!

Takeshiba Sanbashi has changed a lot. So have Marunouchi, Tokyo Sky Tree area and such.