Snowy Morning at the Kanda Myojin Shrine

Catalog note / 解説

This <i>uchiwa-e</i> (rigid fan print) design by Hiroshige is remarkable for its pervasive and almost palpable sense of stillness, and for its more than usually close-up rendering of its female subject. The Kanda Myojin Shrine was situated in Edo's Hongo district, to the south of the Shinobazu Pond. It was moved from an earlier location to its position on the Yushima bluff in 1616, from which it enjoyed a commanding view to the east, visible here with the sky turning pink just before sunrise. Along with the Hie Sanno Shrine in the north of the city, the Kanda Myojin Shrine was one of Edo's two most important Shinto establishments. They were the centres of major summer and autumn festivals (…