The Hatsune Riding Grounds at Bakuro-cho

From the grassy foreground to the riding ground behind, long cloths dyed yellow, white and purple are stretched in many horizontal lines. Budding willows hang their branches at left and right, and a fire lookout tower rises at center rear. A lone figure stands under the cloths, and beyond that the roofs of townhouses continue.

The horizontal bands of flowing cloth and the vertical lines of the tower and willow trunks divide the picture like a lattice. The combination of the pale colors of the dusk sky and the vivid colors of the cloth sets off the stillness of the wide riding ground.

The Hatsune Riding Grounds is said to have been one of the oldest riding grounds in Edo, and it is told that the name came from the Hatsune Inari Shrine nearby. The wide open space was also used for drying cloth dyed by nearby dyers, and the fire lookout watched over a town that suffered many fires.

This is the sixth print of the Spring section. A major feature of the print is that it shows the place through cloth and a tower, without depicting the horses from which the famous place took its name. The censor's seal dates it to September 1857 (Ansei 4). The hanging cloths show the work of the nearby dyers and bring the everyday life of an artisans' town directly into the famous view. Depicting the unremarkable scenery of an urban vacant lot as a famous place reflects Hiroshige's interests in his later years.