Collections: Asian Art: Kanasugi Bridge and Shibaura, No. 80 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

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Kanasugi Bridge and Shibaura, No. 80 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

• Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando), Japanese, 1797-1858
• Medium: Woodblock print
• Place Made: Japan
• Dates: 7th month of 1857
• Period: Edo Period, Ansei Era
• Dimensions: Sheet: 14 3/16 x 9 1/4 in. (36 x 23.5 cm) Image: 13 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. (34 x 22.2 cm)
• Collections: Asian Art
• Museum Location: This item is not on view
• Accession Number: 30.1478.80
• Credit Line: Gift of Anna Ferris
• Image: Overall, 30.1478.80_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando) (Japanese, 1797-1858). Kanasugi Bridge and Shibaura, No. 80 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 7th month of 1857. Woodblock print, Sheet: 14 3/16 x 9 1/4 in. (36 x 23.5 cm) Image: 13 3/8 x 8 3/4 in. (34 x 22.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.80 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 30.1478.80_PS1.jpg)
• Catalogue Description: This image depicts a group of Nichiren believers crossing the Kanasugi Bridge, where the Tokaido crosses the mouth of Furukawa River. From the tall bamboo pole hangs an array of cotton hand towels and wood ladles, intended as offerings at the water basin of a temple. The towels show the crest of the Nichiren sect, a mandarin orange blossom within a well crib. The next pole, with the long pennant, is inscribed with the Nichiren invocation known as the Daimoku: "Praise to the Wondrous Law of the Lotus Sutra." The last pole on the right is inscribed "Minobu-san," the name given to the mountain location of the main Nichiren temple, south of Mount Fuji. At the lower left are towels to be offered by "Uoei" (the publisher) who perhaps was a Nichiren believer himself. The print suggests that the procession is on its way to the temple of Honmonji in Ikegami, where Nichiren died in 1282. Thousands of believers flocked to Honmonji every year and continue to do so today. The area shown is the Shibaura (Shiba Coast), the stretch of coast from the mouth of the Furakawa River north to Hama Palace. The whole area was changed when Japan's first railroad was built (where the man is seen poling a boat). The area to the far right is now occupied by Tokyo Shibaura Electric, better known today as Toshiba.