Skip Navigation

Gotenyama, Shinagawa, No. 28 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Utagawa Hiroshige

Asian Art

Gotenyama, or Palace Hill, was the southernmost projection of the Shinagawa heights. It overlooked the Meguro River to the south and the Tokaido highway to the east as the road passed through the narrow settlement of Shinagawa, gateway to the city of Edo. The palace for which it was named was ascribed to Ota Dokan, the fourteenth-century founder of Edo, and was the suburban retreat of the early Tokugawa shoguns. After the shogunal villa burned, Gotenyama became one of the city's most popular flower-viewing sites.

MEDIUM Woodblock print
  • Place Made: Japan
  • DATES 4th month of 1856
    PERIOD Edo Period, Ansei Era
    DIMENSIONS Image: 13 11/16 x 9 in. (34.8 x 22.9 cm) Sheet: 14 3/8 x 9 1/4 in. (36.5 x 23.5 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS No publisher's seal visible, probably lost when left edge was trimmed.
    SIGNATURE Hiroshige-hitsu
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 30.1478.28
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Anna Ferris
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION View of Gotenyama (Palace Hill) in Shinagawa, gateway to the city of Edo, one of the city's most popular flower-viewing sites. In "Ehon Edo Miyage" (vol. VII), Hiroshige explains that huge quantities of earth had been dug away from the hill in order to build the Odaiba, the eight small island fortresses constructed in Edo Bay off Shinagawa in 1853-1854, following the arrival of Admiral Perry's warships. One of the Odaiba was attached to the land near Gotenyama (see pls. 81, 83, and 108). This print is unique for it not only shows the beauty of the traditional Edo ranges above but the ravages of destruction below, as shown by the group of people making their way through the muddy swamp left by the construction efforts. In 1870-1871 the hill was again under construction for Japan's first railroad and its earth was moved into the sea to provide railway embankment.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797-1858). Gotenyama, Shinagawa, No. 28 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 4th month of 1856. Woodblock print, Image: 13 11/16 x 9 in. (34.8 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.28 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 30.1478.28_PS20.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 30.1478.28_PS20.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
    This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.