And I thought I'd post the first from this small, quiet park in Nihonbashi's Kodenmacho (小伝馬町). Which, if you don't know a little Edo history you also don't know that until 1875 this was also the location of the Denmacho (伝馬町) prison which also hosted one of Edo's three execution grounds. The park is called "Jisshi Koen" (十思公園) where "Jisshi" refers to the "Ten Thoughts" petition that Wei Zheng (580-643), advisor to the Emperor Taizong (598-649) of China's second Tang dynasty, gave to the emperor to help him with his introspection. (Until the Meiji Restoration, classic Chinese texts enjoyed great respect in Japan.) On the tower on the left there is a hour bell (toki no kane/時の鐘) which was also struck when an execution was held.
(For a bigger version of this picture both in color and black and white, check my "Japan Arekore" set on Flickr).
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