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Do the scenes take place at nihonbashi fish market?
Can you summarize or translate what the texts say?

Dear Francis,

I was waiting...I don't know if anyone has already answered you. Sothese are just my scattered thoughts.

This is a 戯画 (giga)— a humorous or caricatured image — rather than a standard documentary depiction of a market. The composition shows workers wearing 鉢巻 (hachimaki, headbands), short patterned work coats, and 褌 (fundoshi, traditional loincloths). The long poles they carry are similar to those used by porters and street vendors, who transported fish in two buckets balanced on their backs.

To be objective: there is a book titled 道化 肴市場 2枚続揃 [幕末 浮世絵 風刺画] ("Dōke Sakana Ichiba", meaning "Farce at the Fish Market"), which contains this two-panel set of satirical ukiyo-e prints by an unknown artist, dated to the late Edo period.

As you may remember, I am a humble African-Brazilian student of the Japanese language, so I haven't yet learned to read kuzushiji (cursive script) very well—I jokingly call it a yokai (monster). Nevertheless, I can see that the text contains exclamations and puns related to physical exertion and the contest being depicted. In this diptych, the right panel shows workers pursuing officials with sticks, while the left panel depicts officials being chased by workers with sticks, amused children watching the scene, and four cats fighting over a fish.

The scene is a satire of contemporary events in the Edo period. The struggle over the fish represents the political conflict surrounding the fall of the shogunate and the surrender of Edo. Clothing patterns allegorically identify domains such as Satsuma, Chōshū, Aizu, Sendai, Shōnai, and Tosa. The woman in the chrysanthemum-patterned kimono is interpreted as Princess Kazu-no-Miya, while the agitated men on the right panel represent members of the court aristocracy. Figures from Satsuma, Aizu, and other groups are thus caught up in the upheavals of the Bakumatsu period.

As we can see, the print depicts a cat stealing a gizzard shad from the fish market. The fish's Japanese name, konoshiro, is a deliberate homophone for "ko no shiro" ("this castle"), which serves as a pointed allegory for Edo Castle—that is, the castle was captured just as the fish is captured by the cats. This wordplay cleverly mirrors the late Tokugawa period, in which rival political factions all desperately maneuvered to seize control of the shogunate.

The question regarding Nihonbashi Bridge is more intriguing and entirely hypothetical to me. Edo Castle was not located right next to it. but yes, I think it may be Nihonbashi because its true that Edo’s principal fish market was the 日本橋魚河岸 — Nihonbashi Uogashi, on the north bank of the Nihonbashi River.
But though I am not an expert I think the connection is primarily thematic rather than architectural.

Maybe some expert came to some conclusion but if you conect it with some architectural site, I think there is other 3 possibilities: 1) Nijubashi Bridge located on the western side of the Edo Castle. 2) Gofukubashi Bridge crosses the old outer moat site near current Tokyo Station, sitting much closer to the inner administration zones of the historical fortress; last but not least 3) Tokiwa Bridge (Tokiwabashi) by it side was located right on the Nihonbashi River.

I hope it can help,
Best regards,
Renato Araújo

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