The Bells of Old Tokyo

 

The Bells of Old Tokyo: Meditations on Time and a City by Anna Sherman is a pretty good book, though I found that sometimes it seemed a bit unfocused. The author claims to be exploring the history of bells in the temples and other institutions of the city, but as she documents her visits many sites in Tokyo, she not only seeks the bells that are her specified topic, she also ranges over many other subjects and historic events. Her focus gets lost in many details that are interesting but very diffused. Above all, I felt that this book needed illustrations! Although the author’s descriptions are interesting, the scenes she describes just cry out for actual pictures. The kindle edition that I read had no illustrations whatsoever, which may also be the case for print copies of the book.

As I read I thought about our visits to Tokyo, always too short, and revisited some of my photos of our trip in 2011. Here are some quotes from the book with my photos.

The Sumida River as we saw it on a ferry ride in 2011

I enjoyed the many vignettes about the Sumida River and its long history because this river is one locale that we saw on our stay in the huge and varied city. Sherman’s summary:

“In its thousand years of written history, the Sumida has been moved and merged, its channels drained and diverted from one riverbed to another. Its waters were diverted so often – into canals, into gutters – that no one knows where the original channel once lay.” (p. 126)

“Today the Sumida has concrete banks and the buildings along its banks turn away from the river,
as if it weren’t even there.” (p. 127)

“Today the Sumida’s banks are scattered with new-fangled architecture from the 1980s Bubble
and the so-called Lost Decades afterward.” (p. 157)

“‘Of all Edo’s beauties, the river is paramount; its face changes from morning to evening.’ — Blossoms on the Sumida by Terakado Seiken” (Quoted as a chapter heading, p. 123)

The Black Gate, now at the museum in Ueno Park

“Ueno had seven gates. On 15 May 1868, the shōgitai massed near the main one, known as the Black Gate, where they faced off against the forces of Saigō Takamori, the era’s most gifted general and – even more ominous for the shōgitai – his five British-built Armstrong cannons.” (p. 84)

Now part of the museum in Ueno Park, which I visited in 2011, this gate had great historic significance
in the final defeat of the shogun and return of the emperor in 1868.

Throughout the book, the author returns to her discussions with the owner of a small old-fashioned coffee shop, which are interesting but not exactly on the topic of bells. She also has quite a lot of material about the 1923 earthquake and fire storm and the bombings of Tokyo in World War II. These were devastating to the monuments, including the bells, and to the entire city. In fact these chapters seem to defocus the book, especially the very long personal narrative about a Japanese woman’s experience in the war. I enjoy reading books about Japan, and I hope I’ll be finding some that I like better than this one!

Blog post © 2024, photos © 2011 mae sander 

for maefood.blogspot.com and maetravels,blogspot.com