100 Views of Edo #79 by Ando Hiroshige

Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Woodblock Prints Title: 100 Views of Edo # 79 Shiba Shinmei Shrine and Zôjôji Temple

1st Publication: July 1858

Size: 13-1/4 x 8-5/8 + Margins as shown

Date of this edition: July 1858, 2nd Impression

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Multiple pinhole / wormholes repairs, mainly in the margins. Mild soiling. Very good colors and impression, good overall condition.

Notes: This is the second edition of this print, without mica, and without the street shade in the lower left part of the print.

More about this print: Cheerful faces are unusual in Hiroshige's series, which is dominated by faces either too small to be seen, averted, or set with a stern demeanor. Not so with these visitors from the countryside, who have just completed a visit to the Zôjôji Temple at the upper left, one of Edo's great sights, the burial site of the Tokugawa shoguns and a training center for Buddhist priests.

Behind them is a group of novice monks, who would beg in the streets in the afternoons; their tightly ordered ranks and matched attire contrast with the laughing disarray of the rural visitors. The tourists will certainly stop next at Shiba Shinmei Shrine, the buildings to the right with the distinctive protruding roof beams and ridgepole logs.

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.