Ichigaya Hachiman Shrine

At the bottom of the picture the water of the outer moat lies blue, and people come and go along the street above it. In the middle rows of townhouse roofs continue, and the hill beyond is covered with dense woods. In the woods can be seen cherries in full bloom, a shrine building with a vermilion gable and the stone steps of the approach, and a line of geese flies in the sky.

Several bands of white and pale yellow haze trail horizontally, separating the town from the hill. Against the deep green of the woods, the white of the cherries and the vermilion of the shrine stand out, and the bands of haze give the picture depth and rhythm.

Ichigaya Hachiman is a shrine said to have been invoked from Tsurugaoka Hachimangu in Kamakura, and corresponds to today's Ichigaya Kamegaoka Hachiman Shrine. Near Ichigaya Gate of the outer moat, teahouses and theaters lined its gate, and it was an entertainment district busy with worshippers. From the precincts on the height, one could look out over the town of Edo beyond the moat.

Although it belongs to the Spring section, the censor's seal is October 1858 (Ansei 5), the month after the first Hiroshige died. For this reason the theory that Hiroshige II's brush is involved is considered strong, but all the holding museums treat it as the work of the first Hiroshige.