April 2017

15.Pleasure District at Senju   It is the ukiyo-e woodblock print, one of the “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji“, depicting the scenery along the Nikko Highway.  The row of people in the front is the daimyo’s procession, they are on the way to their home. They hold the firearms and spears in the scarlet bags.   The houses of Senju pleasure district

14.Senju, Musashi Province   Senju was the first post town on the highways of Nikko-dochu and Oshu-dochu, prospering as one of the four major postal station in Edo.   The farmer with the horse and the angler hand over the shade and look up to Mt. Fuji. at the same time. They may be talking something about the view

13.Sekiya Village on the Sumida River  The Japanese woodblock print is one of the series of “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Sekiya was the area around Senju dry riverbed on the Sumida River. The winding road that three samurai riding on the horsebacks was the Ushida bank.   The mustle of the horses

12.Sunset across the Ryōgoku Bridge from the bank of the Sumida River at Onmayagashi     The ukiyo-e woodblock printing silhouettes the figure of Mt. Fuji wrapped in the orange light of the setting sun.   The dusk is falling from the upper sky and the far buildings and boarts also turn into the gray shadows.   Even

10.Below Meguro     Currently there are many stylish cafes, but the countrified Below Meguro (Shimo-Meguro)  was the area of hills and farming. Especially, it was famous for the place where the shoguns hunted with a falcon. Let’s see the ukiyo-e woodblock printing by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). The lower right of Mt. Fuji making an appearance

9.Watermill at Onden   One of the series of “Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji” by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849). Harajuku, the town leading the latest in fashion today, was the rural district where the people live at leisure in Edo Period. We can not see anymore, but the Shibuya River run Onden village. This river also flows now under the

8.Cushion Pine at Aoyama     The Cushion Pine were the famous trees at the precinct of Ryuganji in Harajuku Village, which had the 5.6 meters wide. And other smoler pine trees were planted in a circle so as to surround it. Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) depicted the hill of pine trees as a semicircle shape and Mt. Fuji as a triangle.   Hokusai, in