Nihonbashi: Dawn after Snow

In the foreground, men carrying tubs of fish and shoulder poles jostle each other, bending low under their large hats. On the bridge, women holding umbrellas have stopped, and at right a barefoot porter pushes a big load upward. Snow lies even on the giboshi finials of the railing, and boats float on the river beneath the bridge.

Snow-covered white-walled warehouses line the riverbank all the way back, and in the distance another bridge forms an arc. The sky is graded from indigo above to pale crimson below, and the red disk of the sunrise and a flock of birds flying on a diagonal convey the cold morning air. The composition places a large crowd in the foreground and leads the eye into the distance.

Nihonbashi was the starting point of the Five Highways, including the Tokaido and the Nakasendo, and at the foot of the bridge stood the fish market known as the kitchen of Edo. Travelers heading for Kyoto along the Nakasendo also first crossed this bridge and went north.

Keisai Eisen began this series, and the "Zoku no ichi" (Sequel, No. 1) in the title is thought to indicate that it was issued as a sequel to the Tokaido series. The print bears the seal of the publisher Hoeido. The Tokyo National Museum holds both a signed impression and an unsigned one. Utagawa Hiroshige later joined, and the two completed 70 prints, one for each station.