100 Views of Edo # 33 Deluxe 1st Edition by Ando Hiroshige

Additional Pictures:



Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Woodblock Print Title: Towboats along the Yotsugi-dori Canal (Yotsugi-dôri yôsui hikifune), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: February 1857

Size: Vertical ôban; 35.9 x 24.6 cm (14 1/8 x 9 11/16 in.)

Date of this edition: February 1857, 1st edition

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Trimmed to the margin in the upper and lower section of the print (And partially restored margins). Margins partially trimmed on the right and left side affecting the seal. Excellent colors and impression.

Notes: Very rare 1st edition with 3 colors in the title cartouche. 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: This canal was created in the seventeenth century to supply drinking water to the Fukagawa area. In Hiroshige's time a regular passenger-boat service emerged as a pleasant shortcut for Edo travelers heading northeast. This was the only towboat canal in Edo, and hence it enjoyed some distinction. Although the canal followed an absolutely straight line, Hiroshige depicted it with artistic license. The dramatic curves lend a sense of Western perspective seldom encountered in the series.

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.