Temple Gardens in Nippori

In the foreground two large weeping cherries let their pale blossoms hang. From the middle ground toward the back, artificial hills and rises in the lawn continue, and blossom viewers walk leisurely along a bright path. Beyond the large pines at the back appear temple roofs and a flowering tree with red blossoms.

The green of the lawn, the pale pink of the cherries and the red placed here and there create a soft, spring-like picture. The composition winds the path from front to back to give a sense of the depth of the garden.

The temples on the Nippori plateau are said to have competed in garden making, and because the dividing hedges between them were low and the whole looked like one large garden, the area was called the blossom-viewing temples. The characters of the name Nippori are said to have been chosen for a village where one forgets that the day is ending.

This is the fourteenth print of the Spring section. Together with the next print, Suwa Bluff at Nippori, which depicts the nearby plateau, it introduces an excursion spot in Edo's northern suburbs. The censor's seal dates it to February 1857 (Ansei 4), so it was put on sale a little before the flower season. It is thought to have also served as a kind of excursion guide, showing one way famous-place pictures were enjoyed.