The Dyers' Quarter in Kanda

On the right and left of the picture, many dyed cloths hang from tall drying platforms. Cloths dyed with indigo gradations, checkerboard patterns, and diamond motifs billow in the wind, and through the gaps the townscape and a snow-capped Mount Fuji peek out. A single bird flies in the sky.

The contrast of indigo and white is vivid, and the lines of cloth hanging vertically divide the picture powerfully. Drawing the cloths in front large and placing Fuji small in the distance is a device of perspective often used in this series. One of the cloths is said to be dyed with a mark related to Hiroshige's name.

Konya-cho, as its name says, was a town where konya (dyers) gathered, lined with tall drying platforms for hanging cloth. The yukata and hand towels dyed here were widely used by the people of Edo, and cloths fluttering on the platforms were a specialty of the town.

While most of Edo's famous sights are temples, shrines, and riversides, this picture treats the craftsmen's workplace itself as a famous sight. The boldness of filling the picture with cloth patterns is unique to the tall vertical format of this series.