Nihon-dsutsumi. (The Dyke of Japan.)

It is mentioned in the “Dōbō Goyen” 洞房語園 that there was an hereditary farmer at Minowa named Shibazaki Yohei, and according to his story he had heard from his grandfather that the Nihon-dsutsumi was constructed about a hundred years ago in the year of the “large monkey.” Now countrymen often call the year of Kōshin the “year of the large monkey,” so the year referred to by Yohei’s grandfather may be the 7th year of Genna (1621). It is also mentioned, in a supplement to the book, that the characters formerly used in writing the name were 二本 (ni hon = 2 lines) and not 日本 (Nihon = Japan), because there were two roads one of which led from Shōden-chō to Sanya-bashi. As, however, Yedo increased in prosperity, hills were levelled and canals dug, after a while the road to Sanya-bashi disappeared as part of the changes made in the city; and accordingly the characters 二本 were altered to 日本 in describing the remaining road. At the time of the construction of the Nihon-dsutsumi, a large number of lacquer-trees (urushi-no-ki) were planted on both sides of the road, forming a veritable avenue,14 and it was a common joke to warn an habitué of the Yoshiwara by saying significantly—“When you pass along the Sanya road, mind you don’t get poisoned by lacquer!” The bank commenced at Shōden-chō in the West and Yoshino-machi (Asakusa) in the East, and extended to Harajuku (Shitaya), the total length being 834 Ken (5004 feet), the width of the road 10 Ken (60 feet) and the horse-path 5 Ken on the average (30 feet).