八ツ山の下　品川　川さき迄二り半

About this print

A white lattice bridge spans a cutting lined with stone walls. Onlookers stand in a row on the bridge, and beneath it a locomotive puffing smoke pulls passenger cars past. In front are two men in Western clothes, and on the right, cherry trees in full bloom. This is the view below Yatsuyama, at the northern edge of the Shinagawa post town, from Utagawa Hiroshige III's Tokai Meisho Kaisei Dochuki (Famous Places of the Tokaido, Revised Travel Guide), published in 1875 (Meiji 8). The National Diet Library titles it Kaisei Gojusan Eki (The Fifty-three Stations, Revised).

When the railway opened in 1872 (Meiji 5), a wooden bridge was built here to carry the Tokaido road over the tracks. This was Yatsuyama Bridge, one of the very first bridges built to cross over railway tracks. The lattice bridge in the print appears to be this Yatsuyama Bridge.

In 1914 (Taisho 3) it was replaced by an arched iron bridge, and the present bridge dates from a rebuilding in 1985 (Showa 60).

Glossary