100 Views of Edo # 45 by Ando Hiroshige

Artist: Ando Utagawa Hiroshige (1787-1858)

Woodblock Prints Title: Yatsumi Bridge (Yatsumi no hashi), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)

1st Publication: August 1856

Size: Vertical ôban; 35.7 x 23 cm (14 1/16 x 9 1/16 in.)

Date of this edition: August 1856

Publisher: Uoya Eikichi

Condition: Some soiling, backed on a thin edo era paper, a couple of thin spots and a couple of small restored holes in the left margin. Mild color fading. Fully margin. Good to very good overall condition.

More about this print: Although Yatsumi Bridge literally means "Eight-View Bridge," a more accurate translation would be "Eight-Bridge View" since from it one could see eight different bridges, including Yatsumi itself, on which the viewer is standing.

This bridge was one of the busiest in Edo and joined the mouth of the Nihonbashi River with the outer moat of Edo Castle. So heavily traveled was the bridge that its southern approach served as the site of a stone post on which notices of lost children were pasted. The only allusion to this bustling site in an otherwise placid scene is the two parasols moving along at the lower left.

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.