The Great Sanjo Bridge in Kyoto

Sanjo Ohashi, spanning the Kamo River, extends long from the left of the picture to the right. On the bridge, various people come and go: palanquin bearers, people carrying loads, women in kazuki (a garment worn by women going out, with a robe pulled over the head), and people holding umbrellas. The railings of the bridge are painted a color close to vermilion, contrasting with the blue of the river. The wooden bracing of the piers lines up regularly, and the bridge spans long over the shallow riverbed.

Beyond the river spreads the townscape of Kyoto, and the Higashiyama mountains overlap behind it. The tallest mountain is printed in a reddish color, and green trees are dotted on the nearer ranges. The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum takes these mountains to be the Thirty-six Peaks of Higashiyama. The roofs of the houses are distinguished in indigo and red.

The 55 prints of the Hoeido edition, which began at Nihonbashi in Edo, end at this Sanjo Ohashi. In this print the piers are built of wood, but according to the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, the piers of the actual Sanjo Ohashi were of stone. Sanjo Ohashi was greatly rebuilt in 1590 (Tensho 18) on the orders of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and in the Edo period it was a kogi-bashi, a bridge managed by the shogunate.