皇居二重橋

About this photo

On the left rises a tall, dark wall that looks like a stone rampart, with trees growing thick on top. From there, a stone bridge with two arches runs across, its railing continuing in a straight line. At the back on the right, part of a whitish building sits on top of a stone wall. About the top third is sky, where dark and bright clouds swirl in great curves.

This stone bridge is the Seimon Ishibashi (Main Gate Stone Bridge). Going on from the main gate toward the palace, you come to a second bridge, the Seimon Tetsubashi (Main Gate Iron Bridge), and today the two are usually called "Nijubashi" together. The name, though, first belonged to the farther bridge. In the Edo period, that bridge was a wooden one with a double (niju) structure, its girders held up by a support set partway across, and the name is said to come from that.

Drop your eye to the water below, and fine ripples of light are scattered all across it. The specks of light run from the foot of the stone wall on the left to the bank on the right, while just under the arches, the water sinks into the bridge's dark shadow.

Glossary