Kiyomizu Hall and Shinobazu Pond at Ueno

At right the vermilion stage of Kiyomizu Hall juts out, with blossom viewers looking at the scenery from the railing. The slope in the foreground is filled with cherry trees in full bloom, and people climb up and down the path. At left stands a pine whose branches form a round ring, and beyond it spread Shinobazu Pond, Benten Island and the woods on the far shore.

The pale pink of the blossoms, the vermilion of the stage, the green of the pine and the light blue of the pond ring out brightly together. The ring of pine branches acts like a picture frame, revealing the view of the pond within it.

Kiyomizu Kannon Hall was one of the halls of Kan'eiji Temple and was built with a stage in imitation of Kiyomizu-dera in Kyoto. Ueno hill was Edo's foremost place for cherry-blossom viewing, and Shinobazu Pond was likened to Lake Biwa, with Benzaiten enshrined on its central island.

This is the eleventh print of the Spring section. The round ring of the Moon Pine was a motif Hiroshige liked to paint, and the same pine is the star of the Autumn section's Moon Pine in the Ueno Precincts. The censor's seal dates it to April 1856 (Ansei 3), in the first year of publication. Pictures of the blossom-viewing season are many in the Spring section, and this is a representative print conveying the splendor of Ueno hill.