Hiroshige: First Edition of Inari Bridge and Minato Shrine in Teppozu 鉄砲洲 稲荷橋 湊神社 (SOLD)

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige 広重 (1797-1858)
Title: First Edition of Inari Bridge and Minato Shrine in Teppozu 鉄砲洲 稲荷橋 湊神社Series: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: Meisho Edo Hyakkei
Date: 1857

View from Edo Bay, looking towards the city via the commerce-laden Hatchobori (or Echizen-bori) Canal. Our vantage point seems to be that of a bird, also shown as the tiny shapes flying in the sky in the distance. Dominating the foreground are the massive masts from the large cargo sailboats that are anchored in the Bay; their stays create terrific triangulations against the flowing curve of the river and the natural triangle of Fuji’s peak. To the left is the Minato Inari Shrine, glimpsed behind a red fence, serving as the guardian of the entry to the city from Edo Bay. The shrine survives even today, although the rest of the area would be unrecognizable now. We see many of HIroshige’s groundbreaking artistic hallmarks here, including strong cropping of foreground elements and an unusual viewpoint, combined with his precision internal symmetry. 

As noted by Henry Smith, this place was the important junction where the large seagoing ships from western Japan would anchor and then their cargoes transferred into smaller boats (sedori) for distribution to the many quays and storehouses that lined the city’s canals. 

This is an example of the first state, and compares element-for-element with the 1st edition in the Hagi Uragami Museum. There is bokashi at the very bottom of the river as well as in the center of the canal; there are many areas of bokashi, including on the stone work and on the yellow bales on the cargo boat as well as Mount Fuji. We see lovely woodgrain in the sky as well as mica added to the mast at left.

Scarce in this first edition.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. From the First, or Deluxe Edition. With an overlapping strip of margin from another print, right side and hinging remnants in corners of verso.
Dimensions: ôban 36 x 23.8 cm
Publisher: Uoya Eikichi
Literature: Henry Smith II: Hiroshige One Hundred Famous View of Edo: plate 66. See Brooklyn Museum and Minneapolis Institute of Art, Harvard Art Museums, Honolulu Museum of Art (1st edition).
Seal: Aratame and the year seal snake (1857) 
Signature: Hiroshige ga

SKU: HIR549