The shadowy backstreet that parallels the west bank of the Sumida River, between the Umaya and Komagata bridges, has always struck me as woefully underrealized.
Two venerable dining establishments ¡ª the freshwater loach specialists at and the grilled eel experts at ¡ª have for centuries denoted the area¡¯s aquatic proximity, but a smattering of new guesthouses and hotels appearing in the Komagata district suggests an area in transition.
I exit the Oedo Line at Kuramae Station, and am welcomed with buckets of autumn rain. Splashing northward, the wind playing my umbrella like a pinwheel, I try to snap a few shots of the 1929 pea-green Umaya Bridge. ¡±Umaya¡± means ¡°horse stable,¡± a nearby sign informs me, and the bridge was supposedly named for barns housing the steeds of the Tokugawa shoguns during the Edo Period (1603-1868). Decorated with horse-related motifs, the Umaya¡¯s three through arches bound over the rain-pelted Sumida in a simple, but discernible, art deco style.
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