Autumn Moon at Matsuchiyama (Matsuchiyama no shûgetsu)

Catalog note / 解説

This <i>uchiwa-e</i> (rigid fan print) design by Hiroshige shows the autumn moon rising over the Mukojima district across the Sumida river to the north-east. The top of the <i>torii</i> gate (a two-column entrance to a Shinto shrine) just visible on the skyline in the centre of the print is the entrance to the Mimeguri Shrine. We are looking across from the top of a small hill to the immediate south of the Imado Bridge, visible here on the lower left, which crossed the San'yabori Canal where it joined the Sumida river on the eastern edge of the Imado Asakusa district. Known as Matsuchiyama, this hill was, and is, home to the Shoten Shrine, a popular place of pilgrimage for courtesans and ot…