Aoi Slope, Outside Tora Gate

In the foreground two young men, stripped to loincloths and carrying lanterns, climb the slope. On the slope at left are people and food stalls, and two white dogs are on the ground. Beneath the stone wall at right, the water of Tameike spills over a weir into the moat like a waterfall, with the trees of a residence above it. A crescent moon and geese are drawn in the sky.

The dark night sky, black slope, and the bluish white of the weir water convey the chill of the night. The skin color of the young men in front and the red of their lanterns add warm movement to the cold palette. The contrast between the slope's incline and the horizontal line of the weir lends motion to the picture.

Outside Toranomon was the place where the water of Tameike fell into the outer moat, and the slope beside it was Aoi Slope. A Kompira was enshrined in the residence of the Sanuki Marugame domain nearby, and townspeople were permitted to worship there on the 10th of each month. The sight of craftsmen's apprentices making pilgrimages naked in midwinter conveys a custom of making vows.

This print belongs to the winter section and is one of the prints depicting a moonlit night scene. The life of Edo on a winter night, such as the people on the slope and the lights of the food stalls, is drawn in fine detail.