Chica Umino's manga (2007-) and its Shaft anime (2016-2018): Rei Kiriyama, a 17-year-old shōgi prodigy, lives alone by the river until the three Kawamoto sisters adopt him for dinners. It unfolds among the Sumida bridges and the lanes of Tsukishima and Tsukuda, drawn with a fidelity that has turned the district into a pilgrimage.
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Tsukuda: Tsukuda-kobashi Bridge and Sumiyoshi Shrinethe Kawamoto sisters' neighbourhood
location
The old fishing quarter of Tsukuda, with its canal, the small red Tsukuda-kobashi bridge and Sumiyoshi Shrine, is the model for the riverside corner where the Kawamoto sisters live: low houses with tower blocks behind. The canal, the bridge and the shrine already appear in the first volume of the manga.
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Chūō-Ōhashi BridgeRei's bridge
location
The cable-stayed bridge over the Sumida between Shinkawa and Tsukuda appears again and again from the first volume of the manga, along with the north bank and the riverside walk (Sumida River Terrace). It is the defining view of Rei's and the Kawamoto sisters' neighbourhood.
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Hatonomori Hachiman Shrinethe players' prayers
location
The shrine next to the Shōgi Federation's former headquarters appears in the second volume of the manga. It has a Shōgi-dō holding a large votive piece, where players pray, and the Sendagaya Fuji-zuka, a miniature Mount Fuji.
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Sendagaya Shōgi Kaikan — the new headquartersthe home of shōgi
tribute
The Shōgi Kaikan where Rei plays his official games, shown from the first volume, was the 1976 building next to Hatonomori Shrine, demolished in January 2025. Since September 2024 the Japan Shōgi Association has been based in this new building next to Sendagaya Station, which does not appear in the series but remains the home of official games in Tokyo.
Source & evidence
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