平塚迄三り半　藤澤　江のしまみちの鳥居

About this print

Beyond a large torii gate stands a bridge, and people on horseback and other travelers are crossing it. In the foreground are a traveler in a woven hat and a woman and child under a Japanese umbrella. This 1875 (Meiji 8) print shows the post town of Fujisawa and belongs to Tokai Meisho Kaisei Dochuki (Famous Places of the Tokaido, Revised Travel Guide), a series by Utagawa Hiroshige III.

This torii marked the entrance to the Enoshima-michi, the road to Enoshima. Coming up the Tokaido from Edo and crossing the bridge (today's Yugyoji Bridge), you found the torii standing a little to the south. The road was busy with worshippers, and when the Enoshima Electric Railway opened in 1902, the first plan was to lay the tracks along this road. But about 300 rickshaw men objected, and the route was changed, it is said.

The torii was taken down after the Great Kanto Earthquake, during road widening and other work. The base stones (hakamaishi) of the third torii, built in 1881, remain in front of the treasure hall of Shojokoji (Yugyoji).

Glossary