Oji Inari Shrine

At right the vermilion shrine building and the railing of its corridor jut out, and worshippers walk across the grounds in the foreground. In the middle many large cedars rise tall, and below them a torii and the roof of a teahouse peek through. A plain spreads in the distance, and Mount Tsukuba with its two peaks can be seen.

The composition repeats the vertical lines of the cedar trunks and lets the distant view show between them. The vermilion of the shrine, the deep green of the cedars and the red horizon of sunset combine solemnity and brightness in the grounds.

Oji Inari was a shrine regarded as the head of all Inari shrines in the Kanto region, and was known for a legend that on New Year's Eve foxes from all over Kanto gathered there and lit fox fires. Hiroshige also depicted this legend in the Winter section's Ceremonial Robes Tree at Oji, Foxfires on New Year's Eve.

This is the eighteenth print of the Spring section. Like the preceding view north from Asukayama, it repeats a view of Mount Tsukuba from the heights of Oji, showing the famous places around Oji in succession. The censor's seal dates it to September 1857 (Ansei 4). The composition that overlaps cedar trunks in front of the picture is shared with the Kanda Myojin print and gives an impression of the height of the trees in the grounds. The figures of worshippers suggest that Oji was an easy excursion destination for the people of Edo.