The Yamashita District of Ueno

At right is a large two-story restaurant with a curtain dyed with the name Iseya stretched across it. In front of the shop can be seen horses loaded with goods, people passing and a stall with a yellow awning. Several large umbrellas stand at lower left, and beyond them the stone walls and woods of Ueno hill continue.

A large expanse of sky is given to a flock of crows flying on the diagonal, bringing movement to the picture. The deep indigo of the roofs, the color of the curtain and the patterns of the umbrellas in the foreground convey the town's bustle.

Yamashita lay at the gate of Kan'eiji Temple and was an entertainment quarter where restaurants, show booths and teahouses gathered. It was on the route taken by worshippers and blossom viewers, and was also a place of pleasure for Edo's common people.

This is the twelfth print of the Spring section. The censor's seal dates it to October 1858 (Ansei 5), the month after the first Hiroshige died. For that reason some argue that Hiroshige II's brush is involved, but all the holding museums treat it as the work of the first Hiroshige. The characters on the shop signs and the figures of passersby are drawn in detail, and the print can also be seen as a record of life in a temple-gate town.