The 'Looking Back' Willow

Catalog note / 解説

The subject of this <i>uchiwa-e</i> (rigid fan print) design by Hiroshige is the famous 'Looking Back' Willow that stood outside the Omon or Great Gate, the sole point of entry and departure for visitors to the Yoshiwara licensed pleasure quarter in the Imado Asakusa district of Edo. The last object in view as clients looked back when departing on their early morning journey along the Nihon Embankment, it symbolised the pathos of separating lovers. The scene here is set in the dead of night rather than at dawn, however, and it is a courtesan rather than a man that the servant with the lantern is seeing off. The lantern is marked with the <i>katakana</i> characters for 'hi' and 'ro', the fir…