Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line Trains Crossing the Kanda River Bridge

[bill937ca]

Tokyo Metro train videos in daylight are rare.  This is close to Akihabara.

 

[miyakoji]

Very nice.  Pictures of this area always look so good.  I think I want to live in that house/apartment in the background at :40.  I wonder if it's expensive.

[Densha]

Ochanomizu station is always nice to see. I've wonder for a while though, does it really mean "Tea water station"? The kanji used are the ones for tea and water right?

[miyakoji]

Yes, literally that's what it means.  I've often wondered about the origin of the name, too.  The English wikipedia article about the neighborhood itself says

 

 

 

Ocha-no-mizu literally means "tea water", after the nearby Kanda River from which water was extracted to make the shogun's tea during the Edo period.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochanomizu

 

 

Well, we have a forum member who can tell us more .  I hope he sees this thread.

[Ochanomizu]

Hello miyakoji-san,

 

Yes.  Ochanomizu is my favourite railfan place.  For tourist wondering how to get there it is just one station west on the JR Sobu line.  There are many fine locations around the area to observe the passing trains.

 

But Ochanomizu is such a famous place for other reasons.  For example, you will find the famous painting by Utagawa Hiroshige, dating to the mid 1800's.  The area was a feudal lord shopping district of the Edo period.  The Kanda river passes by.  It incorporated the spillways to maintain the level of the moats surrounding Edo Castle. 

 

Yushima Seido Temple is on the north bank of the river, opposite the station.  I have discussed in another thread.  It was built by 5^th Shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi in 1690 following the Confucius school of teaching.  It is said that this is the site of the former Takabayashi Temple, which had a natural spring.  2^nd Shogun Tokugawa Hidetada, grandfather of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, would stop to have tea at the temple often when out falconing.  Thus, the area became known as Ochanomizu in the early 1600's.

 

One interesting fact is that very few buildings have street numbers at Ochanomizu.  Many buildings are still known by their name only and delivering the mail in the area requires great local knowledge.

 

So sorry, this is all I know about Ochanomizu.

 

 

 

Edit:

 

Some people think the name Ochanomizu comes from the brown waters of the Kanda River, but this is, of course, not true.  The waters from this part of the Kanda River were not used for drinking at that time for sanitary reasons.

Edited August 12, 2013 by Ochanomizu