One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
Fireworks at Ryōgoku
両国花火 · Ryōgoku hanabi
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1858
What it is
High over Ryōgoku Bridge a rocket bursts into a spray of falling light, its thin trail still hanging in the dark, while pleasure boats crowd the black water of the Sumida below.
Why it matters
The river-opening fireworks at Ryōgoku were Edo’s great summer night, the whole city afloat or on the bridge; Hiroshige gives the sky almost the entire sheet and lets one burst carry it.
What to notice
The firework is a spray of pinpoint reserves against the graded night sky, its launch trail a single curving line; the crowd is all lanterns — the city visible only as its own small lights.
The whole city looks up at once. That is the festival.
The record
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858)
- Series
- One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
- Date
- 1858
- Publisher
- Uoya Eikichi
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP642
- bokashi
Impression note. The night sky is a deep graded wipe from the zenith down, unique to each sheet, and the burst and its rising trail are fine reserves of bare paper — fragile details that separate fresh impressions from worn ones. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.
Public domain; faithfully reproduced.
Bring it home
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.
From the same series
One Hundred Famous Views of EdoSudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and AtakeUtagawa Hiroshige · 1857
One Hundred Famous Views of EdoPlum Estate, KameidoUtagawa Hiroshige · 1857
One Hundred Famous Views of EdoAsakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi FestivalUtagawa Hiroshige · 1857
One Hundred Famous Views of EdoMoon Pine, UenoUtagawa Hiroshige · 1857The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.