View of Tokiwa Bridge before the Bank of Japan, Tokyo, c. 1910. It was for defensive reasons that, prior to the Meiji Restoration, stone was never used as a bridge-building material to cross the palace moats. (Wood burns; stone doesn’t.) This changed in 1877 after the Satsuma Rebellion had been defeated and imperial primacy was assured.

Nihonbashi Canal bridges and landmarks, c. 1912.

Above is a ca. 1910 view of the bridge leading to the palace’s Tokiwa-mon (Tokiwa gate), a short distance from present-day Otemachi. The bridge connected the palace to the national mint and banking district of Nihonbashi, including the Bank of Japan (Nippon Ginko) see at the far right. Tokiwa-bashi remains today one of only a handful of Meiji Era bridges still standing in Tokyo.

In the distance, at center, can be seen the Nikolai Cathedral dome, near Kanda, and the Ryounkaku (Twelve-Story Tower) skyscraper on the horizon at Asakusa.

Tokiwabashi-mon [gate] to the Imperial Palace, near Nihonbashi, c. 1910, opposite the Bank of Japan.