Tsuki no Misaki

Modern Tsuki no Misaki

Painting of Hiroshige, Tsuki no Misaki, from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Tsuki no Misaki (月の岬 (or 月の見崎) Tsuki no Misaki), meaning "Headland of the Moon", was a name formerly in use for part of a plateau in Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo in Japan. One explanation of the name is that it was considered a particularly good place to view the moon over what is now Tokyo Bay.

In the Edo period, it was well known as one of seven capes (Nanasaki (七崎)) around the Edo area, the other six being Shiomizaki (潮見崎), Sodegazaki (袖が崎), Ōsaki (大崎), Kōranzaki (荒蘭崎), Chiyogasaki (千代が崎) and Chōnangasaki (長南が崎).

The name had become obsolete by the middle or late Meiji period, when references were made to the loss of the view due to new buildings.^[1]

Akimoto Chūnagon (秋元中納言) composed a tanka on Tsuki no Misaki:^[2]

There are some origin candidates for it, which might be originated from admiration of nice view including the moon.^[3]

• Tokugawa Ieyasu named it in Keichō era.^[4]
• it was a nearby place of a notice board set up at Mitadaicho (三田台町) 1-chome^[5]。
• formerly it was a name of the premises of Isarago (伊皿子)Daienji (大円寺), and then it was used for a neighborhood area.^[6]。
• it was a generic name of Saikai-ji.^[7]

Hiroshige

Japanese artist Hiroshige designed a couple of prints of the moon seen over the bay from within a tea-house or brothel on Tsuki no Misaki. Some doubt has been expressed as to whether these prints depict this location, or one at Yatsuyama (八つ山) in Shinagawa,^[8] but Yatsuyama was leveled and its soil was used to construct Daiba in the late Edo period.^[9]

References

1. Shinsen Tōkyō Meishozue (新選東京名所図会) (Fuzokugahō (風俗画報) Extra Edition) in 1901-2 (Meiji 34-5) Tōyōdō (東陽堂)
   Tōkyō Annai (東京案内) in 1907 (Meiji 40)
2. Tōtokikō (東都紀行) in 1719 (Kyōhō 4).
3. Kindai En'kaku Zushu Shiba / Mita / Shibaura (近代沿革図集芝・三田・芝浦) Minato Ward Library Jin'bunsha
4. Jippōanyūrekizakki (十方庵遊歴雑記) in 1814 (Bunka 11).
5. Bunseimachikatakakiage (文政町方書上) in 1827-8 (Bunsei 10-11).
6. Gofunaibikō (御府内備考) in 1829 (Bunsei 12). Daienji is now in Suginami, Tokyo.
7. Edo Meisho Zue in 1836 (Tenpo 7).
8. Hiroshigega Meisho Edo Hyakkei (広重画 名所江戸百景) Miyao Shigewo (宮尾しげを) Shueisha in 1992.
9. History of Shinagawa ward (Shinagawa-ku shi (品川区史)) in 1973-74