100 Views of Edo # 114 Deluxe Edition by Ando Hiroshige

Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Woodblock Print Title: Bikuni Bridge in Snow (Bikunibashi setchû), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: October 1858

Size: Oban: 8 5/8" x 12 5/8" (21.9 x 32.2 cm)

Date of this edition: October 1858

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Trimmed to the margin, fading, soiling, vertical centerfold now flattened.

Notes: This is a rare Deluxe edition with Mica in the sky area. Usually, this technique was reserved for good customer or prestigious people, as the technology was fairly new, expensive and difficult to master.

More about this print: Two types of eating establishments set the scene here. To the right is a stall selling roasted yams. The lantern advertises with clever wordplay that this winter favorite is "tastier than chestnuts." To the left, a shop offers "mountain whale" (yamakujira), a euphemism for the meat of wild animals. Like other momonjiya ("hairy monster shops"), this establishment would have offered, in addition to the standard fare of boar and deer, such delicacies as bear, monkey, badger, otter, fox, wolf, and weasel. To an Edo clientele, wild-animal flesh had special restorative powers.

Pictures: Pictures are taken outdoor, in the shade, to reflect true colors, without any enhancements of any kind. The last picture is taken indoor, with a light behind the print, to reveal the exact paper grain, holes if any, or other possible flaws.