Maple Trees at Mama, Tekona Shrine and Tsugi Bridge

Thick tree trunks stand on the left and right of the picture, and branches of red-turned maple hang large from above. In the scenery looking down between them, inlets and ponds are dotted about, with thatched houses, the shrine of Tekona, and a narrow road and bridge. A low range of mountains lies in the distance, and a line of wild geese flies in the sky.

The foreground maple is drawn large and the distant view is revealed between the trunks. The red of the leaves, the indigo of the inlets, and the pale color of the sky convey the brightness of Mama in autumn.

Mama is the legendary place of Tekona (Tekona), the beautiful maiden sung in the Man'yoshu, and Tsugi Bridge was also known as a poetic place-name in old poetry. The autumn leaves of Guhoji Temple were a famous attraction drawing sightseers from Edo. Tekona is a maiden said to have been courted by many men and, in her distress, to have thrown herself into the inlet.

This is the first of three prints depicting famous places in Chiba, outside Edo. The composition of framing a distant view with branches and trunks in the foreground is shared with "The Moon Pine on the Temple Grounds at Ueno" in the same autumn section. The Metropolitan Museum of Art also holds the same print.