Azuma Bridge (Azuma-bashi) — Asakusa

photo by Kakidai · CC BY-SA 4.0

It is among the 33 buildings selected as a ‘historic building’ by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

The steel arch bridge, 132.5 metres long, replaced in June 1931 the 1887 metal girder bridge that burned in the fires after the 1923 earthquake; the first crossing at this point dates back to 1774. Anyone walking across it towards the Sumida bank sees the Asahi headquarters and the Skytree together, but in strong wind there is no shelter at all.

Bridge over the Sumida between the Asakusa bank, where it separates 雷門二丁目 from 花川戸一丁目, and 吾妻橋一丁目 on the Sumida side. The one you cross today dates from June 1931: a three-span steel arch, 150 m long and 20 wide, built by the City of Tokyo to replace the 1887 iron girder bridge (the first metal bridge on the Sumida), whose deck burned in the fires of the Kantō earthquake of 1923. The first crossing dates back to 1774, the last of the five bridges built over the river in the Edo period, and was called 大川橋: the name 吾妻橋 has been official since 1876. In the period in which the series is set, then, the iron girder bridge still stood here: the arch you see today came eight years after the end of the Taishō period.

ℹ️ Always accessible, with a pavement on both sides. Looking towards the Sumida bank you get the Asahi headquarters and the Skytree in the same shot; below the west end of the bridge is the Sumida river boat pier, one of the terminals for the trip down the river, and from there to Kaminarimon it is 170 m.

🚉 Asakusa · 3 min walk

Sources: anitabi.jp · nara.blue · ja.wikipedia.org · toshiseibi.metro.tokyo.lg.jp

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