View of Nihonbashi itchōme, Coredo
Summer
In Hiroshige’s time, Nihonbashi Itchōme was home to Shirokiya, one of Edo’s three biggest clothing stores along with Echigoya and Daimaruya. Today, the soul of Nihonbashi is said to lie at the Coredo Nihonbashi shopping center, which draws upon the area’s rich history as a thriving center of culture and trade.
Notes
Chūō-dōri is the main artery of Tokyo’s city center. It connects Nihonbashi to Kanda, Akihabara, and Ueno in the north and Kyōbashi, Ginza, and Shinbashi to the south. All of the areas along the thoroughfare have flourished since the Edo period as commercial or entertainment districts.
The road itself, though, does not date back to Edo times. The first unbroken connection between Shinbashi and Ueno was a horse-drawn trolley line that opened in 1882. This gradually evolve into modern Chūō-dōri. Today the street has a unique atmosphere, particularly around Nihonbashi where an old sense of Edo sensibility is carefully curated within the modern urban landscape.