大井川

Toll-free highways are making headlines of controversy everyday. There are so many stake-holders concerning this new proposal from the Democratic Party. Truck drivers are worried about heavy traffic caused by more family drivers on highways. Eco activists point out that increasing number of car users will aggravate the CO2 emission.
Among those opponents are ferry companies such as Kanmon (下関-門司) ferry. They are on the brink of bankruptcy, losing their job. True, it must be a serious problem for them.
When Tokugawa Ieyasu(徳川家康) held the hegemony of this country followed by the relocation of the capital to Edo, there was no bridge over Ooi river(大井川). He remained it unbridged for his life. After the war of Sekigahara, he was very much worried about Daimyos in the west attacking Edo. The bridge would help a large army to march to Edo, he thought. He even banned boats that carried people across the river. The policy was kept by his successors for 250 years.
There had been people living near the river, who made their livings helping travelers and their luggage cross the river(渡し人足). In Edo era, an organization that administrated those people was established in two inn-towns(宿場町) on the both sides of the river. Edo government officially approved the organization and protected it. Here a cozy relationship between the government, bureaucrats and the organization started. Thanks to the Tokugawa's transfer of the capital with no-bridge policy over the Ooi river, it became a lucrative job. It is said 1000 people were directly engaged in this 渡しbusiness and 3000 people were more or less involved. It is not hard to imagine there were lots of wining and dining.
However, as the economy of Japan grew rapidly in the period of Pax Edo, people increasingly complained about the inconvenience when their travel included crossing the river. They filed petition to allow ferries to facilitate the transport, if a bridge is impossible. But the government refused it, ignored it or procrastinated decision this way and that, saying "the people engaged in the business will lose their job." or " Two ways of transportation would cause a confusion." or " walking across the river has been the tradition since the period of Gods." The collusion between the government and the organization was thus strong.
When the Meiji government started, it abolished the organization as if to take candy from a baby. They built a bridge. All the people working there lost their job.
Do we still insist we should not have bridged the river because many people lost their job?
The picture is a wood print "View of Fuji from Kanaya", one of the famous series "36 sceneries of Mt. Fuji (富岳三十六景), by Hokusai-Katsushika (葛飾北斎）. Those people painted in the picture lost their job.