100 Views of Edo # 21 by Ando Hiroshige

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

Woodblock Print Title: Mount Atago in Shiba (Shiba Atagoyama), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: 1857

Size: Vertical oban; 35.7 x 24.5 cm (14 1/16 x 9 5/8 in.)

Date of this edition: 1857

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Imperceptible fading, mild soiling, lower margin trimmed, left margin partially trimmed affecting the seal.

More about this print: Hiroshige dramatically interrupts this view from Mount Atago in the district of Shiba southwest of Edo with a figure holding an immense rice paddle. The inscription over the artist's signature to the left identifies the figure as the central actor in the "Heaping Rice Ceremony" performed at the Atago Shrine on the third day of the New Year. In real life, this man was the proprietor of the Atagoya teahouse at the top of Mount Atago. Here however he is dressed in an elaborate costume emblematic of the New Year and of prayers for its bounty.

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.