Distant View of Ryogoku from the Ohashi Bridge

Catalog note / 解説

Perhaps due to the predominant use of shades of blue, grey, orange and brown in this <i>uchiwa-e</i> (rigid fan print) design by Hiroshige, there is an uncanny calm to its rendering of a busy summer's evening on the waters of the Sumida river south of the Ryogoku Bridge. The view is taken from under the eastern end of the Ohashi Bridge, more properly known as the Shin-Ohashi Bridge, which was completed in 1693 as a link between Edo's Northern Nihonbashi and Honjo Fukagawa districts. The grey outline on the horizon to the north-west is the high ground of the Hongo district. The tall structure visible at the western end of Ryogoku Bridge is an enclosure within which acrobats and other perform…