東海道汽車中ヨリ見タル太平洋沿岸

About this photo

This photograph shows the Pacific coast seen from the window of a train on the Tokaido Line. It appears in Nihon Fukei Fuzoku Shashincho (Photo Album of Japanese Scenery and Customs), published in 1910 (Meiji 43), where the English caption describes it as a fleeting view of the Pacific from a Tokaido Line train. Which stretch of coast it shows is not known.

The Tokaido Line was completed from Shinbashi to Kobe in July 1889 (Meiji 22). At that time a through train is said to have taken more than 20 hours. It was named the Tokaido Line in 1895 and renamed the Tokaido Main Line in 1909. Back then the route was different from today's, running from Kozu to Numazu by way of Gotemba. The photo may have been taken on one of the stretches where the line runs beside the sea, such as between Oiso and Kozu, between Yui and Okitsu, or between Maisaka and Arai.

When the Tanna Tunnel opened in 1934, the line took its present route through Atami, and the section via Gotemba became the separate Gotemba Line. Even today the Tokaido Main Line has stretches that run right beside the sea, such as around Yui and Okitsu in Shizuoka Prefecture.

Glossary