100 Views of Edo # 102 Deluxe Edition by Ando Hiroshige

Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Woodblock Prints Title: Minowa, Kanasugi, Mikawashima (Minowa Kanasugi Mikawashima), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: May 1857

Size: Vertical ôban; 36.3 x 24.2 cm (14 5/16 x 9 1/2 in.)

Date of this edition: May 1857

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Some partial color fading, a thin area in the upper right corner. Print looks like it was trimmed to the margins, with a loss in the upper section of the print, and professionally repaired and re-margin. Poor overall condition.

Notes: This is an extremely rare first edition, Deluxe edition with Mica in the river bank 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: The title of this print lists three different villages northwest of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters. The names that appear first probably represent the nearest places in the view. This would mean that it is a scene looking from Minowa and Kanasugi toward Mikawashima, to the west or northwest. Mikawashima was where the shogun's Crane Hunt occurred almost every year during the winter months, when cranes migrated to Japan.

The auspicious nature of the crane made it an important ceremonial gift. Aside from the one or two birds taken on each hunt, the cranes of Mikawashima were carefully protected, as Hiroshige has depicted: the figure in the background is carrying buckets filled with rice with which to feed them.

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.