100 Views of Edo # 44 Deluxe Edition by Ando Hiroshige

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

Woodblock Print Title: View of Nihonbashi Tôri 1-chôme (Nihonbashi Tôri-itchôme ryakuzu), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: August 1858

Size: Vertical ôban; 37 x 25 cm (14 9/16 x 9 13/16 inches)

Date of this edition: 1858

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Minor repairs in the margin (Corners) not affecting the image, else very fine. Excellent colors, fully margin.

Notes: Deluxe edition with Mica in the green floor 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: It is a hot summer day in the middle of the Main Street of Edo in the bustling Nihonbashi district, and almost everyone hides under a hat or a parasol, intent on avoiding the sun. Under a huge two-tiered parasol is a group of dancers who performed celebratory shrine dances for donations.

Called Sumiyoshi dancers because of their origin as seasonal minstrels from Sumiyoshi Shrine near the city of Osaka, they had evolved by Hiroshige's time into native Edo street performers. Following them is a different sort of street minstrel, from the outcast Hinin class. Such women sang songs accompanied by the samisen, a lute-like instrument, and were always escorted at a distance by a husband or a father

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.