100 Views of Edo # 83 by Ando Hiroshige

Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Woodblock Prints Title: 100 Views of Edo # 83 Shinagawa Susaki

1st Publication: August 1857

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

Date of this edition: Circa 1857

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Carver: Hori-Sen

Condition: A tear restored on the upper left corner. Some light soiling, and some light stains on the upper left of the print. A wormhole on the upper margin. Left margin trimmed leaving 70% of the publisher seal. Great colors, fair to good overall condition

More about this print: In contrast with the subtleties of the preceding work is the straightforward topographical view in this print. The brightly lit second-story room to the lower left is in one of the same Shinagawa brothels. The center of attention, however, is the small shrine nestled among the pine trees and accented by its bright red torii (gate) and lantern.

Dedicated to Benten, the goddess of water, music, and literature, this shrine was known as Susaki because of its location at the end of a narrow spit of land, or susaki, that extended out from the mouth of the Meguro River here where it emptied into Edo Bay. The symbolic function of a Benten shrine as protector of rivers is nicely expressed in this view.