Furukawa River, Hiroo

A wooden bridge spans the foreground, with a traveler crossing it. The river meanders widely from under the bridge toward the back, with green banks and fields continuing on both sides. On the left bank is a two-story restaurant where customers can be seen. At the back appear cedar groves, houses and distant woods.

The pale blue river and bright green fields fill the picture in calm tones. The composition traces the river course from front to back as if seen from above, giving a sense of the breadth of the suburbs.

The Furukawa River is the lower course of the Shibuya River, and Hiroo was a suburb of Edo with the secondary residences of daimyo and farmland spreading out. The bridge is said to be Shi-no-hashi, and the restaurant at left is thought to have been a shop known for eel.

This is the twenty-second print of the Spring section. Together with the following Meguro prints, it introduces the rural scenery of Edo's southwestern suburbs. The censor's seal dates it to July 1856 (Ansei 3). It is a quiet print that shows a countryside scene with no flowers or events through nothing more than the winding shape of the river. It clearly shows that Hiroo at the time was a quiet place on the edge of town.