Moonlight at Ryogoku thumbnail 1
On loan
  • On short term loan out for exhibition

Moonlight at Ryogoku

Woodblock Print
1856 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The view in this uchiwa-e (rigid fan print) design by Hiroshige is taken from the western bank of the Sumida river, upstream from the Ryogku Bridge. It is still busy in the moonlight, but not so thronged with people as it would have been earlier in the evening. We are looking south-east from the upper floor of a restaurant in the area to the north of Yanagibashi, the bridge that crosses the Kanda river where it flows into the Sumida river in the north-east corner of Edo's Northern Nihonbashi district. Pleasure boats of various configurations and sizes ride the waters of the river, which flows south towards the Shin-Ohashi Bridge on the horizon. This is the second of a set of three designs unusual for the way in which the distance between viewer and subject progressively decreases, so that the focus of attention shifts from an overall view in the first design to a stylishly clad woman in the third. In this respect it anticipates the sort of experimentation seen in Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, the first design of which appeared a month after this series was published.

Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Moonlight at Ryogoku (assigned by artist)
  • Famous Places of Edo Compared to Sun, Moon and Stars (series title)
Materials and techniques
Colour print from woodblocks
Brief description
Woodblock print, 'Moonlight at Ryogoku' from the series 'Famous Places of Edo Compared to Sun, Moon and Stars' by Utagawa Hiroshige, fan print, Japan, 1856.
Physical description
Fan print, aiban size. Artist signature: Hiroshige ga. Publisher mark: Ibaya Senzaburo. Censorship seal: aratame. Date seal: Dragon 1 (1856/1).
Style
Credit line
R. Leicester Harmsworth Gift
Place depicted
Summary
The view in this uchiwa-e (rigid fan print) design by Hiroshige is taken from the western bank of the Sumida river, upstream from the Ryogku Bridge. It is still busy in the moonlight, but not so thronged with people as it would have been earlier in the evening. We are looking south-east from the upper floor of a restaurant in the area to the north of Yanagibashi, the bridge that crosses the Kanda river where it flows into the Sumida river in the north-east corner of Edo's Northern Nihonbashi district. Pleasure boats of various configurations and sizes ride the waters of the river, which flows south towards the Shin-Ohashi Bridge on the horizon. This is the second of a set of three designs unusual for the way in which the distance between viewer and subject progressively decreases, so that the focus of attention shifts from an overall view in the first design to a stylishly clad woman in the third. In this respect it anticipates the sort of experimentation seen in Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, the first design of which appeared a month after this series was published.
Collection
Accession number
E.2908-1913

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Record createdMarch 12, 2003
Record URL
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