Basho's Hut on Camellia Hill Beside the Aqueduct at Sekiguchi

From the lower left of the picture to the back, the blue Kanda Aqueduct flows in a gentle curve. People walk along the gray road on the right bank, and on a small hill beyond it pines and cherries grow thick around a thatched hermitage. At the foot of the hill a small gate and stone steps can be seen, and fields spread on the far bank at left, with woods continuing in the distance.

The deep blue of the river leads the eye from front to back, and the green of the hill, the pale crimson of the cherries and the gradation from indigo to red in the sky create the soft air of a spring evening. A large pine leaning diagonally gives movement to the picture. The small figures walking along the river convey the leisure of the promenade.

Sekiguchi was where the Ogarai weir, the intake of the Kanda Aqueduct, stood, and from here drinking water was sent to the town of Edo. Matsuo Basho is said to have been involved in the aqueduct works in his youth, and the hermitage set up by his disciples because of that connection is regarded as the Sekiguchi Basho Hermitage. The neighboring hill was called Camellia Hill because of its many camellias.

This print belongs to the Spring section. It depicts the hermitage connected with a haiku poet together with a riverside walking path, introducing an elegant suburban famous place favored by the people of Edo.