Photo/Illutration The Blue Dragon statue represents one of the four divine animals guarding Koto Ward. (Photo by Lisa Vogt)

As I came out of Higashi-Ojima Station on the Toei Shinjuku Line, a huge circular statue that, at first glance, looked like a snake caught my eye.

Intrigued, I made my way between waiting taxis and crossed over to the traffic circle. A hedge enveloped the piece of art, and I couldn’t get too close, but it looked to be a dragon.

I whipped out my smartphone, pinched to zoom the image, then snapped a picture. It was indeed a dragon as the creature was holding an orb, its source of energy.

Koto Ward is protected by four divine animals, "shijin" placed strategically in four directions. This train station is the easternmost in the ward and has the Blue Dragon ("seiryu"). The Red Phoenix ("suzaku") is south at Wakasu Park, the White Tiger ("byakko") west in front of Toyosu Civic Center, and the Black Snake-Tortoise ("genbu") north near Kameido Station.

A short stroll from the train station, I came across a wooded gate with the inscription Kyu Nakagawa / Kawa no Eki. I went through it and came to the Old Nakagawa river, which separates Koto and Edogawa wards. I was surprised to see a sign for an amphibious bus. I didn’t know that Japan had “duck tours” for tourists.

Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, was also a land developer who, from the late 16th century, reclaimed land from the sea and dug waterways. By building infrastructure, Edo (today’s Tokyo) prospered.

The Sumidagawa river and the old Nakagawa river were connected by the creation of the Onagigawa waterway, from which food and commodities traveled within, to and from Edo.

In 1661, Nakagawa Funabansho waterway station was founded where the three waterways met. It served as a checkpoint for waterway-bound trade, like customs and immigration today at Haneda and Narita airports. It made sure no dangerous goods like weapons and ammunition entered, which could lead to terrorist attacks. Back in the day, it would be forces trying to overthrow the shogunate.

The Nakagawa Funabansho Museum has an excellent diorama of the waterway station.

One important duty of the immigration officers was to stop and check women leaving Edo with suspicious or incomplete "tsuukou-tegata" passports. Why? The shogunate took hostage, in a smart, peaceful way, the wives of feudal lords around Japan and forbade them from returning home. Other duties included keeping a record of rice and salt, and checking for inconsistencies.

I suppose the phrase "mizugiwa-taisaku" border control comes from such a place. Another fascinating piece of Tokyo’s jigsaw puzzle!

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This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the Nov. 29 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series "Lisa’s In and Around Tokyo," which depicts the capital and its surroundings through the perspective of the author, a professor at Meiji University.

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