Collections: Asian Art: Akasaka Kiribatake, No. 52 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

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Akasaka Kiribatake, No. 52 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

• Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando), Japanese, 1797-1858
• Medium: Woodblock print
• Place Made: Japan
• Dates: 4th month of 1856
• Period: Edo Period, Ansei Era
• Dimensions: 14 1/4 x 9 5/16in. (36.2 x 23.7cm) Sheet: 14 1/4 x 9 5/16 in. (36.2 x 23.7 cm) Image: 13 1/2 x 9 in. (34.3 x 22.9 cm)
• Collections: Asian Art
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 30.1478.52
• Credit Line: Gift of Anna Ferris
• Image: Overall, 30.1478.52_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando) (Japanese, 1797-1858). Akasaka Kiribatake, No. 52 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 4th month of 1856. Woodblock print, 14 1/4 x 9 5/16in. (36.2 x 23.7cm) Sheet: 14 1/4 x 9 5/16 in. (36.2 x 23.7 cm) Image: 13 1/2 x 9 in. (34.3 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.52 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 30.1478.52_PS1.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: "Kiribatake" referred to the stretch of land along the shore of the "storage pond" (tameike), a reservoir which formed part of the outer moat of Edo Castle - today replaced by Sotobori-dori ("Outer Moat Avenue") from Akasaka-Mitsuke to Toranomon. Here lotus plants grew, scattered through the shallow, swampy pond. In the foreground are two paulownia trees with their gigantic leaves which were reported to have been planted here in the early eighteenth century and were probably intended as a decorative way to prevent erosion. On top of the hill at the left is the Sanno Shrine whose festival was depicted in the previous print. The trees on the hill are in green printed over black with additional black over-printing on some of the trunks. The sky suggests a passing thundershower, very dramatic with a "baren" pattern printed over blue.