Description
A carp-shaped windsock dominates the foreground. Behind it, two other huge koinobori (鯉幟), the most significant and joyful symbol of the “Children’s Day” (こどもの日), float as if they were swimming in the air. At the bottom right the Suido Bridge (水道橋), over Kanda River (神田川), is crossed by a small crowd of common people and warriors coming and going from Surugadai (駿河台), a samurai district. Mount Fuji (富士山) rises in the background.
The work, one of the most iconic images from the series “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” (名所江戸百景) by the artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重), is entitled “Suido Bridge and Surugadai” (水道橋駿河台) and was printed for the first time in May 1857 by the publisher Uoya Eikichi (魚屋栄吉).
The woodblock print is presented here in a 2019 fine re-edition on Japanese washi paper (和紙) made, as we read in the seal on the back, by the prestigious Adachi Hanga (アダチ版画) in Tokyo and is in very good general condition.
