The huge paper lantern partially visible at the top of this uchiwa-e (rigid fan print) design by Hiroshige belongs to the Kaminarimon or Thunder Gate, the entrance to the Asakusa Kannon Temple in the heart of Edo's Imado Asakusa district. Officially known as the Kinryuzan Sensoji, this was, and is, the city's oldest and best-known Buddhist establishment. The building in the centre is the Niomon or Gate of the Two Guardian Kings, and that to the right is a five-storey pagoda. Behind them, hidden from view, is the Temple’s main compound. The print would have been much brighter in its original state, the red lead (tan) that was used on the gates to left and right having tarnished (oxidised) over time to its present dull brown. The design is one of a complete set of eight prints owned by the V&A. The Hakkei ('Eight Views') formula was a popular one, having its ultimate source in Chinese paintings of the Xiao and Xiang rivers. It was originally used in Japan in the form of poetic and painterly references to eight famous sites around Lake Biwa in south-west Japan’s Omi Province (modern Shiga Prefecture).