Aki Province: Festival at the Itsukushima Shrine

The great torii of Itsukushima Shrine occupies the left of the picture. The main pillar and its supporting pillars stand in the sea, and above them part of the crossbeam with its tablet can be seen. At right in the foreground a boat advances with a cabin hung with red curtains and a phoenix ornament on top, and boats with raised masts line up in the sea behind.

The composition cuts the torii off at extreme close range and lets the festival boats peek out between the pillars. The indigo of the sea, the pale color of the pillars, and the red of the boats stand out well, and the mountain range on the far shore sinks into the distance in gray gradation.

The Kangen-sai is a festival held on the 17th day of the sixth month of the old calendar, in which boats circle the sea while gagaku court music is played aboard the main vessel, modeled on the Heian-period aristocrats' kangen music entertainments. The decorated boat depicted is thought to represent this vessel, and it is said that many sightseeing boats gathered in the Edo period as well.

This print is placed after Bingo in the series. Impressions with the same composition are held by the Tokyo National Museum and the National Diet Library. Placing the pillars of the torii large in the foreground is a device from Hiroshige's late years, also seen in the later One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, of boldly cutting off the near view.