Shiomi Slope at Shirasuka

In the lower half of the picture, the hills on the left and right are cut like semicircles, and the sea opens wide between them. A daimyo procession lines up on the slope, and people in hats go down toward the sea. The line of the procession arcs from front right to the back, carrying the eye toward the sea. The head of the procession is hidden behind the hill, suggesting that the slope continues farther down.

A single horizon line is drawn across the distance, and boats dot the offing. The pines on the left and right are drawn thin and tall, contrasting the sea spreading horizontally with the pines stretching vertically. The top edge of the sky is red and fades toward the bottom. On the seashore, the beach, the pine grove, and the shoals are finely drawn, making clear the terrain in which a beach spreads below the slope.

The Tokyo Fuji Art Museum points out that the red hasamibako (a box for carrying clothes and the like on a pole) carried by the procession is decorated with a pattern representing Hiroshige's Hiro. Shiomizaka was a scenic spot described in many travel accounts as the place where travelers heading to Edo from the west first caught sight of the Pacific Ocean. The wide-open view of the sea is the very scene that travelers coming down the slope saw.