天龍川仮橋　見附　はま松迄四里

About this print

A long temporary bridge spans the wide Tenryu River, and travelers carrying loads cross it in a line. In the foreground are a teahouse and a rickshaw puller crouching beside his rickshaw. This print from Tokai Meisho Kaisei Dochuki (Famous Places of the Tokaido, Revised Travel Guide), an 1875 series by Utagawa Hiroshige III, shows the scene on the way from the post town of Mitsuke to the post town of Hamamatsu.

In 1868, when the emperor traveled to Tokyo, a pontoon bridge of boats lined up side by side was laid across the Tenryu River, but it was taken away two days later. In February 1874, the first bridge was built, linking the sandbanks with four wooden bridges, with a pontoon bridge over the main channel where the water flowed. Together with the paths over the sandbanks, it let people walk across about 1.2 kilometers. This was the year before the print came out, and the "temporary bridge" in the title appears to be this bridge.

In 1878 it was replaced with the wooden Tenryu Bridge, which became an iron bridge in 1933.

Glossary