The city grew around a castle established by Mōri Terumoto in the late sixteenth century. The moat and waterways shaped the streets around the castle. In the Meiji era, the grounds also housed military facilities. The two photographs show how different those histories look from the ground and from above.
Follow the river branches in the aerial archive. Bridges tied the islands together. Looking at them as part of everyday travel brings the river city into view before reading about their place in the bombing mission.