Title : Tsukuda Night Moon

Artist : Utagawa Hiroshige

Date : c. 1839

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : Tsukuda Island was located near the mouth of the Sumida River, one of the major waterways in Edo (modern Tokyo). In the late 16th century, when Tokugawa Ieyasu was ascending to power, he was supposedly assisted by the fishermen of a village called Tsukuda in Settsu (present-day Osaka Prefecture). In return, he invited thirty-four fishing families to move to Edo and granted them an island east of the city, which in 1644 was named Tsukuda after their former village. Here, Hiroshige depicts a night scene in this historic place, capturing two women boating under the moonlight, with a fishing village in the background. The moonlight appears to spotlight the women, giving a luminosity to their pale skin. A certain tension is added to the otherwise quiet scene by the contrast between the women’s small boat and the larger fishing boats, which loom impressively to obscure the village. “Midsummer Night’s Pleasure” 08/05/2010-10/10/2010) **********************

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