One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
The City Flourishing, the Tanabata Festival
市中繁栄七夕祭 · Shichū han’ei Tanabata matsuri
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1857, 7th month
What it is
Bamboo poles hung with paper decorations for the Tanabata festival rise above the rooftops of Edo, with Edo Castle and Mount Fuji in the distance.
Why it matters
It is the only print in the series without a place name in its title, and it may show the view from Hiroshige’s own house.
What to notice
The decorations float against an open sky, and the city below them is a sea of low roofs.
A festival seen from home.
The record
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858)
- Series
- One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
- Date
- 1857, 7th month
- Publisher
- Uoya Eikichi
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP62
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.