Haneda Ferry and Benten Shrine

The boatman's two arms cross the top of the picture, gripping the oar. A hairy leg peeks in at left, and the rope tied to the oar hangs down. Between them the estuary comes into view: at left a Benten shrine in a thick pine grove, a sailboat in the middle, and further back a lantern and a distant sailing ship floating on the broad sea. Small boats line the shore, and a reed-covered sandbar can also be seen.

The scenery is cut out largely by the boatman's body, letting the distant view show through. The contrast of pale flesh tone and blue deepening from river to sea is vivid, and one senses the viewpoint of a person riding the boat.

The Benten shrine at Haneda stood at the mouth of the Tama River, where people prayed for safety at sea. The Haneda ferry linked Daishigawara in Kawasaki with Haneda and is said also to have been used by pilgrims to Kawasaki Daishi. The estuary was also a southern gateway to Edo, a place where boats put out to sea.

This print belongs to the summer section. Its censor's seal dates it to the eighth month of Ansei 5 (1858), shortly before the first Hiroshige died. The technique of drawing a human body large in the foreground is strikingly bold even within the series.