Sumiyoshi Festival at Tsukuda Island

At the center of the picture a white banner inscribed in large characters with "Sumiyoshi Daimyojin" stands from top to bottom. A pine stretches its branches at left, and the prow of a boat and lanterns peek in at the right edge. Beyond the banner, a crowd swarms around a golden portable shrine, and small boats and sailboats go back and forth at the water's edge.

The vertical line of the white banner divides the picture in two, and the distant sea and shore are arranged on either side. The contrast between the jet-black ink characters, the pale sky, and the green shore expresses the brightness of the festival day. The whiteness of the great banner conveys the purity of the day.

Tsukudajima was an island opened by fishermen who moved from Tsukuda Village in Settsu in the train of Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Sumiyoshi Shrine enshrines the deity of their home village. The festival included a spirited rite of taking the portable shrine into the sea, which Edo residents are said to have gathered to watch. The island's fishermen were also known for whitebait fishing and are said to have presented whitebait to the shogun's household.

This print belongs to the summer section. The banner bears the date "an auspicious day in the sixth month of Ansei 4, the year of the Snake" and the words "parishioners of Tsukudajima." It is a representative example of the composition often seen in the series, in which a large object placed in front lets the background peek through.