It has already been mentioned that the reconstruction ceremony was held in March 1930, six years and six months after the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923 (1923), but recently Iwanami Bunko "Ginza Reconstruction" was published, and the Asahi Shimbun "Showa History Revisit" (2012/6) was featured. In the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Ginza Brick Street (remain Monument on Kinharu Street = lower left photo) collapsed, and the modern heritage of the Meiji and Taisho eras disappeared.
Today, let's look for the footprints of the reconstruction of the Great East Japan Earthquake that remains in Ginza.
First of all, "Pagoda Copper Carving and Lighthouse" (upper left in the photo) is located in Sukiyabashi Park, behind Sukiyabashi Koban, 4-chome ahead of Ginza. It was erected on September 1, 1933, the 10th anniversary. The statue is written by Seibo Kitamura, a master of the sculpture world, and is named "Todai". A young man dressed as a helmet, offering a torch and obeying a lion. Nishibo was born in Nagasaki, the author of the Nagasaki Peace Memorial Statue, and received the Order of Culture.
The engraved slogan is "continuous preparation for an unexpected earthquake", which was won by the Asahi Shimbun for a prize. Last year's Great East Japan Earthquake was hit by the major earthquake tsunami, which was once every 1,000 years. After the earthquake, everyone began to "continuous preparation" for disaster prevention measures. This slogan, 79 years ago, tells us not to forget the lessons learned from the disaster.
Next is the "Shinkobashi Ruins Monument" (upper right in the photo). It is located on the corner of Ginza Corridor Street, heading toward Uchisaiwaicho, Ginza 8-chome. This is the site of the former Edo Castle outer moat that was reclaimed after the war. At the time of the Great Kanto Earthquake, Horikawa was sandwiched between Sachibashi in the south and Yamashitabashi in the north, and there was no bridge here. For this reason, the experience of not being able to escape to Hibiya Park was a private bridge built in September 1929 (1929) with private funds and donations from local volunteers such as Hisataro Fujihira. . After celebrating the opening ceremony and celebrating the beginning of the crossing, he donated the bridge to Tokyo City. The monument was erected in October of the same year, and is engraved with the name of the Atsushi family and the name of the donated company.
The first edition of Iwanami Bunko, the author was Takitaro Minakami (1887-1940) and 1931 (1931), published in 1931. It is a novel depicting the people of Ginza, who were affected by the Great Kanto Earthquake, standing up for reconstruction. Set in a restaurant, you can see the life of the protagonist who inspires the courage to recover in the scorched Ginza.
In the Asahi Shimbun's "Showa History Revisiting the Great Kanto Earthquake Reconstruction Ceremony" (lower right photo), an article at the time when the reconstruction ceremony was reported, "I was delighted with the lantern procession of 20,000 people at the celebration event that lasted for a week." In addition, in the "Timony" column, Koichi Noguchi, Chuo-ku General Cultural Property Investigation Instructor and the author of the new book "Ginza Monogatari", was introduced, and "Ginza after reconstruction (as a prime place) was to survive. "We have benefited most from the development of transportation," he said. ●Akira Makibuchi
