Panoramic Views on Both Banks of the Sumida River: Shinyanagi Bashi no Hakuu / Otakekura no Niji (Sudden Rain at the New Yanagi Bridge / Rainbow Above Bamboo Warehouses)

One of the prints from the second of the three-volume comic tanka picture books, Panoramic Views on Both Banks of the Sumida River. This print shows a scene of people with umbrellas crossing the New Yanagi Bridge during a light shower, and it is drawn from the opposite side of the Sumida River. The term “sudden rain” refers to an unexpected shower.
The bridge on the far left is the Mikura Bridge. It spans the entrance to the Otakekura bamboo warehouses, where the Shogun’s timber was stored. The area behind the Otakekura warehouses was used to store building materials at that time, but it became a rice warehouse when it moved to the Kimura Timberyard located in the present-day Sarue Park, and became known as the Honjo Rice Warehouse. This enormous estate is now occupied by the Ryogoku Kokugikan, the Edo Tokyo Museum and other facilities.