One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
The Maple Trees at Mama, the Tekona Shrine and Tsugihashi Bridge
真間の紅葉手古那の社継はし · Mama no momiji Tekona no yashiro Tsugihashi
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1857, 1st month
What it is
Maple leaves hang across the top of the sheet at Mama, framing the Tekona Shrine and the Tsugihashi Bridge in the distance.
Why it matters
Hiroshige often set a branch right in front of the viewer and the named place far behind it, a move the vertical format made possible.
What to notice
The leaves were printed a bright orange, and on surviving sheets that colour has darkened toward brown-black with age.
Autumn up close, the famous place far away.
The record
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858)
- Series
- One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
- Date
- 1857, 1st month
- Publisher
- Uoya Eikichi
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP646
Impression note. Published 1856–59 in the vertical format Hiroshige had first used for his Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces, and reprinted often. The date seal on each sheet gives its month of publication. This is the largest clean open impression of the design the Met holds. The orange of the maple leaves oxidises over time and has turned brownish-black on surviving sheets. 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.