100 Views of Edo # 41 Deluxe Edition by Ando Hiroshige

Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Title of the Print: 100 Views of Edo # 41: Ichigaya Hachiman Shrine

1st Publication: October 1858

Size: 8-3/4 x 13-1/4 + Margins as shown

Date of this edition: October 1858

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Carver: Hori-Sen

Condition: Soiling in the sky area, upper margin and left margin. Large repair also in the sky area. Excellent colors and impression, poor to fair overall condition.

Notes: This is one of the very last print made by Hiroshige, but actually is attributed to Hiroshige II as it was published 1 month after Hiroshige's death.

This is an extremely rare first edition, Deluxe edition with Mica in the river bank. 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: Ichigaya Hachiman Shrine was not as culturally lofty as this image suggests. Within the shrine precinct itself was located a theater and numerous tea stalls, and the bustling street was known throughout Japan for the prostitutes who plied their trade there.
lchigaya Hachiman was located at the western edge of a long bluff that in the Edo period was one of the estates of the Tokugawa family of Owari (Nagoya), and a watchtower and part of the outer barrack walls of the Owari mansion can be seen at the upper left. It was there that the novelist Mishima Yukio performed his dramatic ritual suicide in 1970.

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.