If you meet someone for the first time, you may feel oddly relieved to find that the person is from the same province or attended the same school as you. Everyone feels a sense of familiarity with persons or things that have some relation to him/her.

　I feel very close to persons who have something to do with Nihonbashi, too. There are many attractive people in the literary world who are associated with Nihonbashi. In the old times, the haiku poet Basho Matsuo was one of them. He lived in Nihonbashi for the first time when he came to Edo from Igaueno in 1672. By the entrance of Nihonbashi-Funasa, an old, established store of Tsukudani (salt-sweet preserves), a slab with a haiku composed by Basho cut on it stands, saying ﾒHokkunari Matsuo Tousei Yado-no Haru ﾓ (“I, Basho Matsuo, will compose the first haiku of the year on New Year ﾕs Day.”)

　The great writer Junichiro Tanizaki was born in Nihonbashi-Ningyocho. You can see the plate at his birthplace, which was written by his wife Matsuko. After the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, he moved to the Kansai area; however, you can find the description of his recalling the life in Ningyocho in his essays Yosho-Jidai (my childhood) and Furusato (my hometown).

　In addition, Shotaro Ikenami, a doyen of historical novels famous for Onihei Hankacho (the story of Heizo Hasegawa, a head of the special police in Edo) and Kenkaku Shobai (the story of master fencers who settle cases), is also associated with Nihonbashi. He was born in Asakusa, but he wrote about the episode when he was working at Matsushima Shoten, a brokerage firm in Kabutocho, in his book Sanpo no Toki ni Nani ka Tabetaku Natte (I felt I wanted to eat something while taking a walk).

　There are many writers, such as Soseki Natsume and Kyoka Izumi, who mentioned this town in their autobiographies, novels, and dramas. And my recommendation is an excellent essay ﾒKenbun Nihonbashi ﾓ (experience in Nihonbashi) by Shigure Hasegawa, the first woman scriptwriter. I recommend that you read any book you like before taking a walk to enrich your knowledge of literature about Nihonbashi.