100 Views of Edo # 41 by Ando Hiroshige

Additional Pictures: Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Woodblock Print Title: Ichigaya Hachiman Shrine (Ichigaya Hachiman), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: October 1858

Size: Vertical oban; 37 x 25 cm (14 9/16 x 9 13/16 in.)

Date of this edition: October 1858

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Repaired loss in the lower corner, else fine.

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.