Hiroshige 広重: First Edition of Kawaguchi Ferry and Zenkoji Temple (SOLD)

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige 広重 (1797-1858)
Title: First Edition Temple Gardens, Nippori
Series: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: Meisho Edo Hyakkei
Date: 1857

First edition, a melody of floating blue. Log rafts are poled upstream along the Arakawa River, which is the name of the Sumida River in its upper reaches. We are at the northernmost point of any scene in this series. We see a number of travelers waiting at the Kawaguchi ferry landing at bottom and the ferryman guiding passengers across the river at lower right towards the opposite bank. The famous Zenkoji temple is nestled among the trees in the upper right; every 17 years its treasures were unveiled, at which time it would become a crowded entertainment village for sixty days. The bokashi in the water is so perfect and lyrical that it seems to glow from within.

Scarce in this first edition.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition
Dimensions: ôban 36.5 x 24.6 cm
Publisher: Uoya Eikichi
Literature: Henry Smith II: Hiroshige One Hundred Famous View of Edo: plate 20. See Brooklyn Museum and Minneapolis Institute of Art, Harvard Art Museums, Honolulu Museum of Art.
Seal: Aratame
Signature: Hiroshige ga

SKU: HIC120N