Night View of Matsuchi Hill and the San'ya Canal

At lower left a woman in a kimono with a blue lattice pattern and a black obi walks in geta. At the left edge part of the lantern of an attendant walking ahead peeks in. Behind her the Sumida River spreads, and below the woods of Matsuchiyama on the far bank the lights of teahouses facing the San'ya Canal line up. At right stands a tree extending its branches over the scene.

The sky is gradated from black at the top to gray-blue below, and printing that makes use of the wood grain expresses the stirring of the night air. In the dark background the whiteness of the woman's face, the red of her under-kimono and the red of the lantern stand out, and small white dots for stars add stillness to the picture.

Matsuchiyama is a small hill beside the Sumida River north of Asakusa, where Honryuin, which enshrines Shoten, stands. Beside it the San'ya Canal, leading to Yoshiwara, flows into the Sumida River, and boat inns and teahouses lined its entrance. Customers going to Yoshiwara are said to have come this far by boat and then walked along the Nihon Embankment beside the canal.

This is a night view in the Spring section, and the composition placing a figure large in the foreground is rare in the series. The woman is thought to be a geisha walking on the Mukojima side, overlaying a famous view with the manners of Edo in a single sheet.