One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
Nihon Embankment at Yoshiwara
よし原日本堤 · Yoshiwara Nihonzutsumi
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1857, 4th month
What it is
At dusk a line of geese flies over the Nihon Embankment, the raised road to the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter, where lanterns glow and figures make their way along.
Why it matters
The floating world centred on licensed quarters like the Yoshiwara, and Hiroshige shows the road to it at the hour people set out.
What to notice
The geese form a loose line across the evening sky, and the lanterns along the road are small warm points below.
The evening road to pleasure, seen from above.
The record
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858)
- Series
- One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
- Date
- 1857, 4th month
- Publisher
- Uoya Eikichi
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP2514
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. 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.