Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), 'Seido and Kanda River from Shohei Bridge' (Shoheibashi Seido Kandagawa), from the series 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' (Meisho Edo hyakkei), 1857

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)

'Seido and Kanda River from Shohei Bridge' (Shoheibashi Seido Kandagawa), from the series 'One Hundred Famous Views of Edo' (Meisho Edo hyakkei), 1857

Woodblock print
Signed: 'Hiroshige ga'
Publisher: Uoya Eikichi
Censor's seal: 'aratame' (certified)
Date: 1857, 9th month

Vertical oban:
37 x 25 cm. (14 ⅝ x 9 ⅞ in.)

Good impression and colour, full margins, slight rubbing and toning, a few minor marks, very slight creasing to margins.

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The Shohei Bridge arches over the Kanda River, connecting the produce market of Awaji-cho to the outer Kanda area of Edo (now Tokyo). The 'Seido' (Sacred Hall) of the title...

The Shohei Bridge arches over the Kanda River, connecting the produce market of Awaji-cho to the outer Kanda area of Edo (now Tokyo). The 'Seido' (Sacred Hall) of the title refers to the Yushima Sacred Hall, a Confucian temple that was relocated from its original grounds in Ueno to the location depicted here in 1691. Hiroshige's unusual vantage point gives only a suggestion of the important bridge and the outer walls of the temple complex, focusing instead on the river bank landscape and its inhabitants and visitors. Heavy rain falls diagonally from dark clouds above and a flock of geese can be seen in flight in the far distance above the treetops.

The Edo period buildings of the temple were destroyed in the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and the current Yushima Seido building was completed in 1935.

For a similar impression in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), accession no. 21.9462, go to: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/237081

Provenance

A private collection