In 1659, two years after the Meireki Fire, 570-foot Ryôgoku Bridge was built across the Sumida River. Intended as firebreaks, plazas on both ends attracted misemono, a variety of carnival-like side shows, game booths, displays of oddities, and street performers. Next to the east end plaza was Ekôin Temple, built for the spirits of those who had died in the fire. It became one of the main Edo sites for kaichô or temple fairs.

With such diversions, Ryôgoku bustled as a sakariba or "thriving place" of Edo popular culture, especially during the summer "cooling season" when pleasure boats and firework displays (begun in 1733) added to the excitement. Full of hucksters eager to work the crowd, misemono at Ryôgoku were typically crude, sensationalist, and sometimes outright vulgar and disgusting. Some were simply pretenses to hock "miracle" elixirs and lucky charms. Although some real talents--such as acrobats, dancers, and artists--did perform there, most exhibits relied on people's desire for novelty and titillation: rare animals, "freaks" of nature (animal and human), strange devices and automatons, and lewd sexual display. Some more extreme misemono included a man who farted arias, a boy who popped his eyeballs in and out at will, and a so-called "testicle girl."

In this PopSite you'll view, via woodblock prints, the Ryôgoku area and some less outrageous misemono. Study the images and descriptions in conjunction with this week's readings. Think in particular about the historical context and social role of sakariba such as Ryôgoku. Then go to the guidelines for PopThought 1.