Title : The City Flourishing, Tanabata Festival

Artist : Utagawa Hiroshige

Date : 1857

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : Recent studies indicate that this print may depict the view from Hiroshige's home. A tower seen in the distance (to the right) marks the Yayosu barracks, a fire-station established by the government. The warehouses (visible below) were owned by merchants near Kyöbashi and South Tenma, which were just west of Hiroshige's residence. In the bottom left corner, the intimate scene of a kimono hung to dry on a veranda provides further support that the view was from Hiroshige's own window. The area around his residence was severely damaged by fires resulting from the earthquake, and Hiroshige's prints may have been intended to show the impressive recovery of the town and its people. Accordingly, it is now believed that many places depicted in the series became famous after the earthquake as symbols of the city of Edo's (present-day Tokyo) renewal. Since the prints could be mass-produced, this series may have functioned as a means of spreading the good news throughout the Edo community. (from Good News from Hiroshige exhibition 10/9/2008-)

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