Official

The Eitai Bridge over the Sumida River. It connects Shinkawa, Chuo-ku with Saga, Koto-ku and Eidai.

Photographed "Eitai Bridge" over the Sumida River from Chuo-ku, Tokyo.
Photo by jmho / Public domain, from Wikimedia Commons

From the bridge in 1698 (1698) to the appearance of Kachidokibashi in 1940 (1940), it was the first bridge on the Sumida River for more than 240 years.

The Kachidokibashi is now giving the seat of the first bridge to Tsukiji Ohashi, which was completed in 2018 (2018).

For Kachidokibashi, there is an article when you visited the inside of the pier before, so please refer to the archive.

Click here for the archives [Kachidoki / Tsukiji] "Kachidokibashi Museum" (December 2017), which shows the mechanism of Kachidokibashi.

The tour inside the pier of Kachidokibashi has been resumed since 2023. If you are interested, please visit the website of the Tokyo Metropolitan Road Maintenance and Conservation Corporation.

Eitai Bridge boasts the longest length in Edo, the view from the bridge was wonderful, and it was painted many times in Ukiyo-e.

Many people may know the name of Eitai Bridge as a classical rakugo performance. Rakugo tailors it to a humorous story, but Eitai Bridge was the stage of a difficult event that remained in history during the Edo period. That is the "1807 Eitai Bridge Collapse Accident".

On August 19, 1807 (1807), the festival of Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine, which is known as "Yawata of Fukagawa", was held. When the people gathered for the festival crossed Eitai Bridge all at once, the wooden bridge collapsed without being able to withstand its weight, crowds rushed into it, and more people fell one after another. Below it is the Okawa that leads to the sea. You must have gone missing and your identity has not been confirmed. Rakugo has lost the misery, turned it into laughter, and has been handed down to the present day.

For more information about the lively Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine annual festival, please refer to this article where you can see the large crowd.

August 13 53 portable shrines lined up at Eitai Bridge by Fuchan (July 2023).

To memorialize the victims of the accident, Peace pagoda and a stone monument were built at Kaifukuji Temple in Fukagawaji-cho (now Koto-ku).

Obaku Soeijuzan Kaifukuji Temple

Kaifuku-ji Temple moved from Fukagawa to the present-day Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku in 1910 (1910), and Peace pagoda and stone monuments have been moved to this place.

Peace pagoda and stone monument of Eitai Bridge collapsed in 1807 (left photo)
Tokyo-designated Tangible Cultural Property (Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education, Tokyo Metropolitan Designated Cultural Property Information Database)

The homepage of Meguro-ku says, "The only document in Tokyo that allows you to know how Edo citizens perceived the unprecedented catastrophe."

Peace pagoda was large enough to look up and was erected on the centennial anniversary of the accident. posthumous Buddhist name and the names of the victims are engraved, indicating that many people were gathering at the festival.

It's the lower side of Peace pagoda. You can see the word "Hundred Day".

The stone monument in front of Peace pagoda is a memorial monument for the 50th anniversary of 1856 (1856). After that, it was noted that the people of Kiba in the Fukagawa district provided a memorial service for the 77th anniversary in 1882 (1882) and the 91th anniversary in 1897 (1897). .

The monument is engraved with "Eitai Bridge sinking and dying ghost mounds", the date of the accident and the letters "Kiba".

I knew about the Eitai Bridge collapse accident, but I never actually saw historical materials. When I saw this Peace pagoda and a stone monument at Kaipukuji Temple, I felt like I touched the heart of Edo citizens 200 years ago.

Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, where Kaifuku-ji Temple is located, is also one of the leading famous places in Edo depicted in numerous ukiyo-e paintings, and it was once like a resort area that goes out for a day from all over Edo city. In modern times, it doesn't take much time. If you are a fan of Chuo-ku, please go out on an excursion.

Eijusan Kaifukuji Temple

3-20-9, Shimomeguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo

※Kaifuku-ji Temple is currently undergoing renovation work. Please be careful with your feet when visiting.

Eitai Bridge was designated as a National Important Cultural Property in 2007 (2007). There are a lot of articles on this correspondent blog, and interesting articles have just been published the other day. You can also search for keywords, so please take a look at them.