Towboats along the Yotsugidori Canal

A narrow waterway extends from the foreground to the back in large undulations. On the embankment road at right, men pull a boat with ropes over their shoulders, and the boat carries passengers. Pine-lined banks and fields spread along both sides of the canal, thatched farmhouses are scattered in the back, and Mount Tsukuba is hazy on the horizon.

The blue waterway and the band of the yellow embankment cut through the picture in an S-curve, strongly impressing perspective. The gray-green of the fields, the red band of the horizon and the indigo of the sky create the air of a calm spring evening. The small figures of the people pulling the boat tell of the length of the canal.

The Yotsugidori Canal was originally opened to send water toward Honjo and later became an irrigation channel that watered the fields. Along it, hikifune, boats carrying people pulled by rope from the bank, were operated, which is why it was also called the Hikifune River. The place name Hikifune today preserves this memory.

This print belongs to the Spring section. It depicts the leisurely transport of boats pulled by hand together with the waterway extending far into the back of the picture, conveying life on the edge of Edo.