Hatsune Riding Grounds, Bakuro-cho, No. 6 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

The three colorful strips of cloth in the foreground of this print are not celebratory banners but bolts of cloth that dyers have hung out to dry. Hiroshige emphasizes the cloth's materiality by embossing a textured weave pattern on the surface of the white bolt. In the distance stands one of the many fire-watch towers scattered throughout the city. The buildings below were largely devoted to lodging visitors to Edo, maintaining the long-established function of this site as a point of entry and departure for travelers from the north.