Sumida River Research Articles

Evaluating the Transformation of Urban River Water Quality from Receiving Urban Sewage to a Leisure Venue through an Economic Lens: A Case Study from Tokyo

Although environmental sustainability provides a foundation for maintaining economic and social sustainability, it is often neglected in favor of economic sustainability. Ameliorating water impairment is costly, and policymakers do not always prioritize this problem because its economic benefits are often intangible. This study explored the potential economic value for Tokyo’s regional economy of past improvements in the water quality of its rivers. Transitioning the rivers from their previous role as sewage drainage pipes to venues for spending leisure time created economic incentives in the local economy. An input-output analysis showed that in 1985, the inland navigation sector in the Sumida River generated 1.5 times the economic output by increasing demand. While this impact decreased to 1.3 times in 2005, the results clearly indicate that the regional economy can generate amenity values by improving the environmental quality. This study provides useful information to guide policymakers in allocating the budget for environmental management. In particular, it allows them to envision possible development plans to promote the livelihood of urban residents as well as understand the linkage between the environment and the economy.

Waterside Culture in Edo

The sea, natural rivers, minor rivulets, canals, ditches, moats, ponds and waterside were the very important places for Edo culture. Edo and Tokyo, by dint of these waters, had become an extremely protean city. The Yoshiwara pleasure district served as a kind of cultural salon. It was frequented by the literati and painters of ukiyoe, who featured the district and its prostitutes in their works, which were printed and sold in large quantities by the printing houses, so that the pleasure districts prospered in a kind of interdependency with the publishing world. Yoshiwara had been built at the edge of the sea and even after moving inland it was a place many people would access by riverboats. Journeying along the river was to pass from the real world and enter into another. This different world that one access by a river journey from the real world also holds true for the theater districts. On the other hand, Asakusa was a location often used for important scenes. With its long history, this area is deeply connected with the formation of Edo on the banks of the Sumida River. The Sumida River has been used with particular variety in the culture and stories of Edo. The Ryogoku Bridge, especially, featured in many texts written in the Edo period. In this paper, I want readers to see the variety of images of Edo with water.

Quantifying water quality and flow in multi-branched urban estuaries for a rainfall event with mass balance method

In this study, field observations were conducted after a heavy rainfall event in the Sumida and Shakujii rivers in Tokyo, Japan. The flow dynamics and fluxes of salt, suspended sediment (SS), and dissolved oxygen (DO) were investigated with the mass balance method. The fractions of fresh water and saltwater in seaward and landward flows were separated. The maximum salt flux in the Shakujii River was 53.8 kg/s during the flood tide, and those in the Sumida River were 680.3 kg/s at the upstream station and 703.7 kg/s at the downstream station. The trends of SS and DO fluxes were similar in both rivers. In the Shakujii River, the highest SS (3.1 kg/s) and DO (0.4 kg/s) fluxes appeared during the flood tide after rainfall. In the Sumida River, the maximum SS fluxes (6.1 and 6.3 kg/s at the upstream and downstream stations, respectively) and DO fluxes (1.15 and 1.21 kg/s at the upstream and downstream stations, respectively) appeared during the ebb tide. The mass balance method was used to estimate discharge, salinity, SS concentration, and DO concentration at a station with missing data. The results show that the estimated salinity and SS concentration had a significant correlation with the on-site observations, with correlation coefficients (R) of 0.950 and 0.835, respectively, but not for DO concentration (R = 0.638). The disparity between the computed and measured data may be explained by the differences in velocity, salinity, topography, sedimentation, and the presence of organic matter. The analysis based on the advective salt transport components found a lower salt flux per unit width in the Shakujii River (0.36 kg/(m·s)) in comparison with that in the Sumida River (2.88 kg/(m·s)). This indicates a higher probability for salt retention in the Shakujii River.

Impact of long-duration CSO events under different tidal change conditions on distribution of microbial indicators and PPCPs in Sumida river estuary of Tokyo Bay, Japan.

The Sumida river estuary of Tokyo bay is often affected by fecal contamination from combined sewer overflows (CSOs). This study monitored the surface water quality from the upstream of the Sumida river to the estuary in October 2017, June 2018, and July 2018 after three long-duration rainfall events. Several types of sewage markers, including fecal bacteria and two types of bacteriophages as microbial markers, and five pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) as chemical markers were used to evaluate fecal contamination. CSO discharge was estimated separately from pumping stations and overflow chambers. The dominant contribution from overflow chambers was estimated to be as high as 86-91% of total discharge volume indicating their significance in controlling CSO pollution. High concentrations of sewage marker were observed in a wide area due to CSO discharge of more than 30h in all 3 events. Escherichia coli was found to be as high as 4.00-4.57 log10 (CFU/100mL). Meanwhile, caffeine showed the highest concentration of 2105ng/L among PPCPs. It was found to be a useful indicator of recent contamination that captured a unique spatial distribution tendency. On the other hand, crotamiton, a conservative PPCP, was found to be highly diluted and might not be appropriate for tracking pollutants under heavy rainfall events. The effect of CSO discharge pattern and tidal change on the distribution of sewage markers, including dispersion degree and pollutants travel time, was described. CSO pollutants were found to accumulate in the river mouth areas during high tide before being discharged into the estuary.

Effect of neap-spring hydrodynamics on salt and suspended sediment transport in multi-branched urban estuaries

Unique neap and spring tide hydrodynamic features were studied in the estuarine areas of multi-branched urban rivers in Tokyo, Japan. Intensive measurements of salinity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, velocity, particulate organic matter (POM), and nutrients were conducted for 13h in five stations simultaneously on July 3 and July 11, 2017. Water sampling, analysis and calculations of salt and sediment transport were performed. Results showed that the Arakawa and Sumida Rivers follow the typical natural estuary hydrodynamics while Shakujii River followed a typical artificial urban estuary. Shakujii River upstream estuary had lower flow velocity during spring tide (−0.05 to 0.04m/s) than neap tide (−0.09 to 0.16m/s) because of the channel slope that does not allow the transit of water to upstream even during high tide. Shakujii River downstream estuary had hypoxic (DO<2mg/L) bottom depths during neap and spring tide. Sumida River and Shakujii River are adjacent yet the nutrient and POM had different nature. Shakujii River is highly influenced by freshwater from combined sewer systems carrying POM, nutrients and sediments. The freshwater was 54% (14,650m3) and 100% (28,671.1m3) by volume during neap and spring tide, respectively. The POM and nutrients in Sumida River is influenced by tidal processes and tributary rivers. SS was transported from Sumida to Shakujii River during flood phase of spring tide. Freshwater from Arakawa River flows to Sumida River during ebb tide. Salt (−0.066kg/m/s) and SS (−0.16 to −2.435kg/m/s) were retained in the estuaries which may lead to river deterioration and occurrence of scum, hypoxia and odor. The results of the study, particularly on Shakujii River, are significant and could serve as basis for water quality management in similar urban estuaries.

平岡敏夫著, 『ある文学史家の戦中と戦後-戦後文学・隅田川・上州』, 一九九九年九月一五日, 日本図書センター刊, 四二六頁, 本体六〇〇〇円

平岡敏夫著, 『ある文学史家の戦中と戦後-戦後文学・隅田川・上州』, 一九九九年九月一五日, 日本図書センター刊, 四二六頁, 本体六〇〇〇円

Haiku

Haiku Takahashi Mutsuo (bio) Translated by Jeffrey Angles (bio) and Emiko Miyashita (bio) 三界はやせ犬わしる天のがは sangai wa yaseinu washiru amanogawa the three realms arethe river of heavenalong which a skinny dog runs During the late 1940s and early 1950s, Japan was living through the aftermath of war. The country was poor, and the stray dogs and cats were skinny. The ecosystem, however, was rich. We saw bats flying over the town at dusk, and weasels crossing the roads during the day. I particularly remember the beauty of the starry skies of autumn—I would stare in adoration at the shooting stars as I walked back from taking a bath at one of the public bathhouses. Later, the haiku poet Nagata Kōi (1900–1977) took a liking to this haiku and asked me to write it with a brush on a thin strip of paper, which he hung in his study in Suma, located in the city of Kobe. The expression sangai, literally "three worlds," refers to the three realms of Buddhist existence: the realm of desire-driven beings, the realm of beings with form, and the realm of beings without form. Taken together, this expression can be used as a way to refer to the entire world or cosmos. Amanogawa, translated above as "river of heaven," is the Japanese expression for the Milky Way. One senses my youthful brashness in the verb washiru, used in the place of the more common verb hashiru, meaning "run." [End Page 136] ________ 秋の水渡りし人も暮れゆけり aki no mizu watarishi hito mo kureyukeri autumn water—dusk also falls on himwho has already crossed One evening in autumn, I was standing on one side of a shallow river looking at a man as he crossed. By the time he reached the other shore, he had disappeared into darkness. No sooner had I realized this than I became aware that I was also surrounded by darkness. Perhaps I was discovering what it is like to perceive time. This haiku was anthologized as one of ninety poems in Collection of Old Haiku (Kyūkuchō), which appeared in a series of haiku and tanka collections called Fire Pheasant, Water Gardenia (Hi no kiji, mizu no kuchinashi). This series, edited by Masada Kishio, contained commentary by the important tanka poet Tsukamoto Kunio (1920–2005) and was published in 1973 by Yukawa Shobō. ________ 棹ささむあやめのはての忘れ川 sao sasamu ayame no hate no wasuregawa I will guide with my pole—the river of forgetfulnessbeyond the irises I suspect that when I wrote this, I was drawing upon elements from two sources. One appears in the ninth chapter, "Journey to the Eastern Provinces," of the tenth-century classic The Tales of Ise (Ise monogatari), in which the Heian court poet Ariwara no Nari hira visits the Eight Bridges (Yatsuhashi) in Mikawa and composes a nostalgic poem about home while looking at a bunch of blooming irises. The other is the fifteenth-century Noh play Sumida River (Sumidagawa), in which a grieving mother travels with a ferryman in search of her lost son, only to encounter his ghost and learn he had died some time before. The kakitsubata (a rabbit-ear iris, or Iris laevigata), which appears in Tales of Ise here is turned into ayame (a Siberian iris, or Iris sanguinea), while the ferryman guiding the boat with his pole in Sumida River has melded with the image of the traveler from Tales of Ise. The word wasuregawa, literally "forgotten river," also contains two associations. On one hand, it recalls the word wasuremizu, literally "forgotten water," which flows in small, unnoticed rivulets through fields and other places. On the other hand, it can also mean "the river of forgetfulness," as in the river Lethe in Greek myth. One of my habits in writing is to merge associations from the Japanese classics with classics from the rest of the world. [End Page 137] ________ 葉となりし桜を愛づる荒サびかな ha to narishi sakura o mezuru susabi kana a diversionto admire the cherry treesalready in leaves Now, each spring when the cherry trees are in bloom, I want to write about the blossoming trees, but that only started when I turned forty. Not a single haiku about cherry blossoms...

The Characters in A Strange and Interesting Story in the East of the Sumida River

The Characters in A Strange and Interesting Story in the East of the Sumida River

The Life and Afterlives of Hanabusa Itchō, Artist-Rebel of Edo by Miriam Wattles (review)

Reviewed by: The Life and Afterlives of Hanabusa Itchō, Artist-Rebel of Edo by Miriam Wattles James T. Ulak (bio) The Life and Afterlives of Hanabusa Itchō, Artist-Rebel of Edo. By Miriam Wattles. Brill, Leiden, 2013. xii, 288 pages. €103.00. Hanabusa Itchō (1652–1724) flourished in the liminal spaces of Edo. As a poet, painter, song writer, and entertainment impresario, he plied the trades of word and image. In spite of its elaborate hierarchies, the new urban culture allowed for places, often in the entertainment quarters but also within the evolving circles of avant-garde poetry, where a kind of sanctioned mixing of the classes could happen. While not a complete leave-your-social-identity-at-the-door environment, these occasions tolerated considerably [End Page 147] more interaction than was found in daily life, and they were rich arenas for creativity. Itchō’s most frequently cited images depict a hodgepodge of folk from every walk of life crowded in a ferry crossing the Sumida River and a similar motley group bunched under the shelter of a gate to escape a sudden cloudburst (pp. 52,132–35). The unavoidable moments that obliterated forced distinctions seemed his favorites. The edginess and daring of these depictions have largely been meliorated by time, and to the casual viewer only the charm remains. As a brilliant survivor of life in and commentator on Edo’s cultural boundary lines, Itchō’s evident skills were quickness of wit and word, an exquisitely honed ability to read the barely detectable shift of mood in the eyes or posture of a collaborator or a client, a considerable but lightly worn knowledge of the Chinese and Japanese classics, and an instinct for playfulness that possessed the simultaneous dimensions of frivolity and depth. From his arrival as a young boy in Edo around 1660 until 1698, he not only survived but was a true notable. Then, for reasons still unclear, he fell seriously afoul of the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi (1646–1709) in 1698 and was sent into an 11–year exile. Those harsh but artistically productive years ended with the shogun’s death, release from exile, and a return to a career of enhanced celebrity and prosperity until his death. And then he enjoyed a particular kind of posthumous celebrity. Artistic reputations rise and fall on the tides of taste. Beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing to the present, the international market in premodern Japanese art widely victimized the subtle, literary, and deeply contextual word/image constructs such as those refined by Itchō in favor of imagery whose appreciation was immediate to the eye. Modern Japanese scholarly interest in Itchō reached peaks in the mid-1980s and, more recently, with a 2009 exhibition celebrating the three-hundredth anniversary of Itchō’s return from exile. Miriam Wattles has been an attentive and creative researcher within this general resurgence of interest in Itchō, and her thorough and instructive study demonstrates why Itchō, generally regarded as an occasionally brilliant but largely second-tier figure, deserves careful consideration. Wattles presents two quite interesting but complex bodies of information: an interpretive examination of the artist’s known elements of biography with analysis of key works, and then a study of the posthumous Itchō, remembered largely in an increasingly confected image of an antihero who suffered under and survived an intolerant regime. In the section on biography, Wattles does much to suggest in her description of the specifics of Itchō’s multiple personae as they developed before his banishment that her subject confounds standard art historical categories. Indeed, Itchō’s diversity of skills makes it difficult to determine in certain periods how he saw his primary role. Wattles serves the reader as an excellent guide to understanding the broader picture of just how a cultural legacy of word and [End Page 148] image which had slipped from the control of its historic arbiters by the late sixteenth century seemed to float free for anyone with the ingenuity of an Itchō or the other great talents of the Genroku era (1688–1704) to fragment, reconfigure, modify, and otherwise develop. Itchō was a participant in this vast exercise of re-membering. Wattles offers instructive passages...

Geochemical fractions and modeling adsorption of heavy metals into contaminated river sediments in Japan and Thailand determined by sequential leaching technique using ICP-MS

In order to provide information on the chemical processes in sediment fractions and their adsorption models, we investigated the contaminated sediments of the Sumida River in Tokyo, Japan and the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok, Thailand. Samples were leached through a sequential leaching technique to perform metal concentration analysis for the sediment fraction assessment and then samples were tested for the model adsorption of the highest level of sediments contaminated by heavy metals using the isotherm Langmuir and Freundlich equations. Metal (Pb, Cd, Zn, As, Cu, Ca, Fe, and Mn) concentration in the leached solutions was analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). The pattern of geochemical fractions in both sediment samples showed the maxima leached levels of Cd (38.6 %), Ca (55.2%), and Mn (41.3%) in the soluble fraction; Pb (52.1%), and Zn (56.7%) in the reducible fraction; Cu (61.2%) in the oxidizable fraction; and As (47.1%) and Fe (55.9%) in the residual fraction. The total level fractions of Pb (62.6ppm), Zn (240ppm), As (27.2ppm), Fe (16,636ppm) and Mn (419ppm) in the Chao Phraya River sediments were higher compared to those in the Sumida River, indicating the high anthropogenic effect in Bangkok. In the most contaminated sediments, the higher adsorption capacity of heavy metal concentrations was contributed by SiO2, CaCO3, and Al2O3 determined by the X-ray diffraction and organic contents. The model of adsorption of Cd fitted to the linear form of Langmuir’s equation with the correlation coefficients (r2=0.94), b (0.467) and k (7137), whereas Pb, Cu, Cr, and Zn conformed to the model of the Freundlich equation.

Seismic reinforcement of historical steel bridges in Japan

Both the Kiyosu and Eitai Bridges, registered as important cultural properties in 2007, are located in the lower reaches of the Sumida River in Tokyo. They were rebuilt in the latter half of the 1920s after the great Kanto earthquake of 1923 in the Japanese capital. By examining their anti-earthquake performance under the revised new standards based on the information obtained from the magnitude M7.3 great Hanshin Awaji earthquake of 1995, it was discovered that strengthening was required for both bridges. Strengthening design was considered and discussed from 2012 to 2014. It was concluded that with respect to the Kiyosu Bridge, the installation of dampers on both girder ends was required. With respect to the Eitai Bridge, the bearings on both piers were immobilised by placing additional horizontal bearings. Also, the addition of stiffeners to the arch ribs was deemed necessary to increase rigidity. The strengthening work was carried out from 2014 to 2015. This experience is expected to supply useful information for strengthening and repair/design work of historical bridges.

Possibilities of neighborhood evacuation within a district in the event of a large-scale flood in a low-lying area: A case study of Shinden district in Tokyo

The objective of this study is to examine the possibilities of neighborhood evacuation within a district in the event of a large-scale flood in a low-lying area, through a case study of Shinden district in Tokyo. Shinden district is highly vulnerable to flooding because it is surrounded by two large rivers, namely, the Arakawa River and Sumida River. In a part of the district, however, there is a large-scale super levee area that is apparently used as a safe evacuation area. In conclusion, in the event that the Arakawa River in Shinden district is breached, the number of estimated potential evacuees at night exceeds the number of estimated night-time evacuees, and the number of estimated potential evacuees in the daytime exceeds the number of estimated daytime evacuees. Therefore, it is possible for people in an inundated area to evacuate to safe places in the neighborhood on the condition that an appropriate evacuation system is established, taking into consideration possible routes to the evacuation areas and the possibility of making use of private apartments or other private buildings as evacuation spaces. In particular, the super levee project has contributed to the creation of a large-scale neighborhood evacuation area.

Where Rivers Meet

Where Rivers Meet, a fall 2015 theatre/film series/symposium/music/art event/workshop in South Texas with international and local participation, is detailed. The event drew together the Japanese nō play Sumida River (Sumidagawa) and Benjamin Britten’s “church opera” Curlew River and added a new kyōgen play, Song of the Yanaguana River, written by San Antonio poet Carmen Tafolla.

Model evaluation of faecal contamination in coastal areas affected by urban rivers receiving combined sewer overflows.

Odaiba seaside park is one of the most popular waterfronts in Tokyo Bay, but is easily affected by wet weather pollutant loads through combined sewer overflows (CSOs). The monitoring data of Escherichia coli clearly showed high faecal contamination after a rainfall event on 9-11 November 2007. We estimated the amounts of discharge volume and E. coli pollutant loads of urban rivers receiving CSO from rainfall chambers as well as pumping stations and primary effluent discharge. The result suggested that Sumida River and Meguro River were more influential to the Odaiba coastal area than other sources including the nearest wastewater treatment plant. Subsequently, we simulated the dynamic behaviour of E. coli by a three-dimensional (3D) hydro-dynamic and water quality model. The model simulation reproduced that E. coli concentration after the rainfall event increased rapidly at first and later gradually decreased. The simulations with and without inflow pollutant loads from urban rivers suggested that the E. coli concentration can be influenced by the Meguro River just after the rainfall event and Sumida River about 1 week later. From the spatial and temporal distribution of surface E. coli concentration, after at least 6 days from the rainfall event, high faecal contamination spread to the whole of the coastal area.

Ukiyo-e Landscapes and Edo Scenic Places (1914)

Ukiyo-e Landscapes and Edo Scenic Places (1914) Nagai Kafū Translated by Kyoko Selden (bio) and Alisa Freedman (bio) I As the name suggests, ukiyo-e (pictures of the floating world) originally specialized in depictions of the manners and customs of women and children, as well as portraits of actors, but later the changing tastes of the era and artists' maturing skills led to the production of great landscapes. From the start, ukiyo-e and Western painting have been quite similar in that both emphasize shasei (realistic representation of nature). Landscape in Western painting emerged out of the background portions of portraiture and gradually became an independent subject. This separation began in seventeenth-century Dutch painting, continued through the eighteenth century, and was perfected in nineteenth century French Romanticism. In other words, landscape painting arose after the development of portraits. Our ukiyo-e shares this characteristic. The fūzokuga genre (pictures of manners and customs) of ukiyo-e developed with Suzuki Harunobu (1725?-70), Katsukawa Shunshō (1726-93), and Torii Kiyonaga (1752-1815), reaching its height of maturity with such masters of the Kansei period (1789-1800) as Kitagawa Utamaro (circa. 1753-1806), Katsukawa Shunchō (?-1821), Chōbunsai Eishi (1756-1829), and Utagawa Toyokuni (1769-1825). At that point, the two great masters appeared—Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and Ichiryūsai Hiroshige (1797-1858)1 who perfected landscape as an independent ukiyo-e genre, adding a final magnificence to the Edo period history of commoners' art. In discussing landscapes by Hokusai and Hiroshige, I would like to first inquire into the course of the development of ukiyo-e landscapes. I find one source to be uki-e (literally, "floating pictures," or perspective pictures)2 of distant views, prolific since Okumura Masanobu (1686-1764), and I consider the second source to be the influence of kyōka (comic poetry in 31 syllables) that flourished in Edo during the Tenmei period (1781-88). Following Suzuki Harunobu, artists like Katsukawa Shunshō and Isoda [End Page 210] Koryūsai (1735-90) added sophistication to ukiyo-e in composition and coloring. In the Tenmei period, the background of some fūzokuga had already begun to constitute perfect landscapes. Examples are the backgrounds of Torii Kiyonaga's triptych A Pilgrimage to Enoshima (Jijo Enoshima-mōde, about 1789) and Kitagawa Utamaro's Ferry Across the Sumida River (Sumidagawa watashibune, date unknown). The trend of the era finally came to demand landscape representations independent of genre pictures. Now, since the Genbun (1736-41) and Kyōhō (1716-36) periods, there has been a kind of panoramic painting called "uki-e" (floating picture). This genre represented interior and exterior views of brothels and theaters, scenes from The Treasury of 47 Loyal Retainers (Chūshingura, first performed in 1748) and The Soga Felling Ten Enemies (Soga jūbangiri, 1720)3 and famous places and religious sites. Urushi-e and beni-e (pictures colored with lacquer and safflower, respectively)4 from around the Kanpō (1741-44) and Enkyō (1744-48) periods already skillfully depicted distant scenes and crowds of people based on techniques of Western perspective drawing. Artists like Okumura Masanobu and Torii Kiyomitsu (1735-85) created such block copies in addition to portraits, but during the An'ei period (1772-81), Utagawa Toyoharu (1735-1814) exclusively produced distant views of famous places, which became fashionable. The Kansei period had already seen a trend toward mass production of inferior work. Click for larger view View full resolution Kitagawa Kuninao (Shidan-me), from the series Treasury of 47 Loyal Retainers in Perspective (Uki-e-Chūshingura). Wikimedia Commons. From Allen Hockley, Public Spectacles, Personal Pleasures: Four Centuries of Japanese Prints from a Cincinnati Collection, Cincinnati Art Museum, 2006. [End Page 211] Click for larger view View full resolution Utagawa Kunisada, The Soga Brothers Fell Ten Enemies (Soga jūbangiri, between 1827 and 1848). Courtesy of Odawara City Digital Archive, private collection. Click for larger view View full resolution Katsushika Hokusai, Chūshingura, Act Two (Kanadehon Chūshingura, Nidan-me, around 1806). Courtesy of Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon. [End Page 212] Viewing the most dexterous uki-e from the An'ei period, it becomes clear that the dominant...

3次元流動生態系モデルを用いた複雑地形をもつ都市河川における水環境改善の検討

Most of the urban river was extremery polluted because of population, complicated shape and other essence of the city. Sumida river mouth is also one of them. In this area, hypoxia is the severe problem and causes the decrease of bio-diversity. This research focuses on the hypoxia and its mitigation in Sumida river mouth using the three-dimensional physical model and lower-trophic ecological model. As the new solution, this research simulated the intermittent control of river discharge in summer. The intermittent control promotes the frequency of water exchange, and affects the increase of dissolved oxygen. Its impact depends on discharge and duration.

Eïtai and Kiyosu Bridges over the Sumida: Japanese Bridge Design in the 1920s

After the earthquake of 1923 which devastated Tokyo, Japanese engineers worked on reconstruction to generate a new Modern landscape in the capital, taking into account various arguments ranging from science to culture. The construction process of the Eïtai and Kiyosu bridges over the Sumida River are indicative of this development. This paper will describe this process to better understand Japanese bridge design in 1920s in terms of technology and aesthetics.

An Aesthetic Study of the Bridgesover the Sumida River in the Edo Era

An Aesthetic Study of the Bridgesover the Sumida River in the Edo Era

各種受容体導入酵母アッセイを用いた河川水の曝露モニタリング：茨城県と東京都を例として

Although the existence of chemicals having binding affinities for cellular receptors is becoming known and some of them are detected in environmental samples, their multiple abilities cannot be ascertained by individual measurements of chemicals. To enable monitoring of river water quality from effects on receptors, we attempted to measure the receptor activities of river water samples by multiple yeast assays transfected with a cellular receptor and co-activator. Water samples from rivers subjected substantially to treated sewage (such as Tama River located in Tokyo), rivers flowing in overpopulated centers (Sumida River, Kanda River and Meguro River in Tokyo) and rivers with luxuriant algae (Sakura River in Ibaraki) had higher activities to the human and medaka -estrogen receptors, the human aryl hydrocarbon receptor and the human retinoic acid receptor, respectively. Because these receptor activities were not consistent with the results of commonly used methods for water quality monitoring, the yeast assays are expected to provide new perspectives on estimation of influences by receptor effects to quality surveys of environmental waters.

A STUDY ON SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF WATER QUALITY IN TIDALAREA OF URBAN RIVERS

In order to clarify formation process of water quality in tidal area of urban rivers, the field observation and its results of the salinity intrusion and spatial distribution of water quality in the tidal area of Kanda River, Nihonbashi River, Sumida River and Arakawa River are reported in this paper. From the results of field observation, following results are obtained; 1) BOD concentration show high value at Sotobori point and Upper stream of Sumida River and Arakawa River points. BOD Concentration of Arakawa River and Sumida River gradually decrease from the upper river side. 2) T-N and T-P concentration show high value at almost all observation points. 3) Salinity intrusion is a strong mixed type at high tide and weakly mixed type at low tide in Nihonbashi River. 4) After rainfall, dissolved oxygen concentra tion of Nihonbashi River is decreased, and it takes 6days to recover to initial concentration.