Chuo-ku Tourism Association correspondent blog

82 years ago, on March 26, 1930 (1930), the "Earthquake Reconstruction Memorial Ceremony" was held. It took six years and six months after the Great Kanto Earthquake in September 1923 (1923), when Tokyo finally revived. The Imperial City Reconstruction Project, symbolized by Shinpei Goto, is also called urban renovation, and a new road was constructed under land readjustment. The business that overcomes hardships is responsible for today's urban functions. This time, I would like to mention the name of the reconstruction road.

Two days before the ceremony, on the 24th, Emperor Showa traveled around the reconstructed city. At Chiyoda Elementary School (currently Nihonbashi Junior High School = Higashi Nihonbashi 1-chome, Rinko Monument is installed), we had lunch and a view of the cityscape of reconstruction from the rooftop. After that, he visited Tsukiji Municipal Hospital (Tokyo City's first general hospital next to the Naval Military Medical School = not existing) via Kiyosu Bridge and Eitai Bridge, which were reconstructed bridges.

Returning to the road, the names of roads such as Showa-dori and Yaesu-dori, which were newly established in the reconstruction plan, were solicited by the Tokyo Nichi-Nichi Shimbun. It seems that there were more than 240,000 applications for 22 arterial road names.

The name of the newly elected road (notation at that time) was as follows. Let's take a look at the roads related to Chuo-ku.

Route 1-Showa-dori (representative of reconstruction road). The width of the 100m plan will be 44m)

Route 2 - Taisho era street (currently Yasukuni Dori). After the war. Higashinihombashi, Asakusabashi south area)

Route 3-Eitai Bridge Street (currently Eitai-dori St.) Eitai Bridge, the first bridge of the Imperial Capital Reconstruction

Route 4-Kabuki-dori (currently Harumi-dori St.) Kabuki-za, Kibiki-cho, Shintomi-za ruins)

Route 5-Kiyosugi-dori (from Kiyosubashi-dori Yokoyamacho on the reconstructed bridge near Asakusabashi)

Route 7-Yaesu-dori (city road from Sotobori-dori St. to Showa-dori, ward road ahead)

Route 11-Shin Tokiwa-dori (currently Edo-dori St.) New Tokiwa Bridge and Tokiwa Elementary School of Reconstruction Elementary School)

Route 12 - Market Street (currently Shin-ohashi-dori St.) Tsukiji Market, which was relocated and opened after the earthquake)

Route 13-Shin-ohashi Bridge Street (from Shinohashi to Koto). Later integrated with the old market street)

By the way, the other road names are as follows.

Route 6-Komagata Bridge Street (currently Komagata Street), Route 8-Sendaita-dori, Route 9-Hoin-dori, Route 10-Kototodori, Route 14-Umaya Bridge Street, Route 15-Kotototoi Bridge Street, Route 16-Fukusuna Kiyohei (currently Shosaibashi-dori St.), Route 179, Route 1-1-1, Route 1

Thus, reconstruction roads have become the cornerstone of today's road network. ●Akira Makibuchi

On March 10, 1945 (1945), Tokyo was hit directly by a massive air raid. This year marks the 67th year. Early on this day, the downtown area was attacked by U.S. military aircraft and turned into ash overnight. The air raid was not only on March 10. Due to repeated bombings, most of Chuo-ku was burned down and destroyed. As the number of generations who do not know war increases, air raid survivors will never forget this day. There are still traces of the war.

On the Chuo-ku homepage (HP), there is the "Heiwa, Chuo-ku Prayer Virtual Museum", which features the Tokyo Air Raid. Beginning with the Declaration of Peace City in Chuo-ku, it consists of a record of the war that summarizes the actual situation of air raid damage situation and the evacuation of schoolchildren, a reference room that introduces photographic materials and experiences, and the past and modern times with contrasting photographs between those days and the present.

According to the website, Chuo-ku suffered a total of 15 air raids after being hit by air raids for the first time in November 1944 (1944). Looking at the entire map of Chuo-ku, which represents the area affected by the air raid, most of the center is painted red. The areas that have been slightly relieved are Tsukiji and a part of Ningyocho, and the Tsukishima, Kachidoki and Harumi areas in the southeastern part of the Sumida River.

A memorial to the victims of the war is installed on the south side of Nishizume, Shin-Kameshima Bridge (upper left photo). The inscription is engraved with "The memorial service for the dead when the whole town was burned down due to the air raid on March 10, 1948 (1948), Kayabacho 2-chome town association volunteers erected. thing.

Incendiary bombs also hit Nihonbashi Hashigami. Even today, the burnt marks remain clearly (right in the photo = brown part on the side of the balustrade). If you look at the paving stones frequently, you will find some places that seem to have been missing or missing. It is said that during the cleaning performed on the 100th anniversary of the Ishibashi Bridge, the area was not removed, and burn marks were left as much as possible.

In Chuo-ku, there are three monuments, "Peace Bell" (lower photo), "Peace Statue Nikolaos", "Edo Komata", and "Peace City Declaration Monument" with a wish for peace. The Bell of Peace was installed in the median strip of Yaesu Street in March 1989 (1989). It is 7m high and 26 Dutch bells are lined up, and it is the song of Chuo-ku "My Town". The pyramid part is engraved with the Heiwa, Chuo-ku City Declaration, saying, "Let's take a look at the preciousness of peace once again." ●Akira Makibuchi

Kiyokata Kaburagi, a master of beauty painting, is a Japanese painter related to Chuo-ku who spent his childhood in the neighborhood of Kiboricho. Shortly after the war, "Morning and Evening Yasui" (Choseki Ankyo) drawn in 1948 (1948) recalls the atmosphere of the downtown area and Tsukiji area around 1887 (1887). . This work is currently being exhibited at the "Collection Exhibition Kiyokata and Stage 1" held at the Kaburagi Kiyokata Memorial Museum in Kamakura City (pictured above). Closed on Monday until March 11th.

Kiyokata Kaburagi was born in Kandasakumacho in 1878 (1878). My father is playwright Jono Rigiku. Moved to Kyobashi Minami Konya-cho, Tsukiji and Kibiki-cho. Entered Toshikata Mizuno at the age of 13. At the age of 17, he became an illustrator for Yamato Shimbun, run by his father.

"Tsukiji Akashicho", who won the Imperial Art Academy Prize at the 8th Teikoku Exhibition in 1927 (1927), is a masterpiece. From this time, the number of works depicting downtown customs lost in the Great Kanto Earthquake will increase.

After the war, he exhibited "Morning and Evening Yasui" at the 4th Nitten in 1948 (1948). Received the Order of Culture in 1954. Moved to Kamakura. He died at the age of 93 in 1968 (1972). The cemetery is Yanaka Cemetery.

"Morning and Evening Yasui" is a picture scroll about 4 meters long, depicting scenes of the lives of the common people of downtown Tokyo over the morning, noon, and evening scenes. In the morning view, there is a young newspaper delivery boy, a cleaning girl, a boiled beans sold, a well in the back alley, and a morning glory blooms beside the men who wash. In the daytime scene, do wind chimes selling avoid the sunshine in mobile stalls?

In the evening scene, a woman who polishes a smart woman's watering and a lamp firehouse. The old man, a cool evening adult, and a girl around the oriental lamp are playing with lanterns.

"In the form of the world around 1887, the place began in the morning around Tsukiji, Kyobashi-ku, near the sea, and it was a feature until the night of the Hatchobori area" ("Kiyokata Kaburagi (1) Production Aside from ")

Kiyokata painted this picture in 1948, when the war remained, at the age of 70. The scenery of the Meiji era disappeared in the Great Kanto Earthquake, and the fact that many things were lost in the Tokyo air raid seems to reflect the feelings of the past days. `` Until the water of Okawa, the southeast of the capital in the Meiji era pours into the sea of Tsukiji, my nostalgia in the downtown area will not be exhausted from the bottomless well '' (The same book) ) Tells his feelings.

In 1934 (1934), he published Tsukiji River. The neighborhood of Kibori-cho and Tsukiji, where I spent my childhood, may have been the hometown of a heart that I loved forever with vivid memories. ●Akira Makibuchi