A View of Shinagawa Bay, c. 1910. Prior to the Meiji Restoration, Shinagawa was a post station on the Tokaido highway. Up through the Meiji and Taisho eras, the largely rural town still remained outside the Tokyo city limits until the 1930s when it was incorporated as one of the city’s new wards. Beneath its present modern-day skyscraper facade, Shinagawa still retains its roots as a transportation hub – 15 different overland and underground rail lines converge there.

See also:
“The Express Train at Sea-Coast of Shinagawa,” 1912.
Drying of Laver at Shinagawa, c. 1910.
Tokaido Highway, Shinagawa, Tokyo, woodblock reprint c. 1920.
The creation of “Greater Tokyo,” 1932.

“Skirting the bay by a decent road, we perceive how shallow the water is hereabouts; sand banks and mud flats being left above water as the ride recedes. Soon the Tokaido is entered, and after passing Kanagawa, we next reach Kawasaki, a small village on the Yedo road. It now becomes apparent we are approaching an important city by the crowds of wayfarers which throng the road. Presently we reach Shinagawa …

Tokyo, 1898. The location of Shinagawa, then outside of the Tokyo city limits, is seen near the lower map edge.

“Here the elite of the Yedo aristocracy were accustomed to seek amusement, and lounge, admiring the beauties of Yedo Bay, the prospect of the city being very fine from this point.

“The activity inseparable from life in and near a great city shows itself at Shinagawa. The tea-house and flower-girls invite the passing traveller to rest and repose himself. Tea and confectionery and music, such as it is, are tempting to the wayworn.

“The traveller descends; he mounts the steps; takes his seat on the balcony, and feels disposed to enjoy the splendid view here presented of the calm waters of the bay, with the busy fleet of native and foreign craft, and the slopes of the city covered with palaces beyond, while the neat-handed Phillis [country girl] hands him tea and pipes.”

– Potter’s American Monthly: ‘Japan and Her People’, M.A. Bruhmet, 1879

Shinagawa inlet, c. 1910.