Japanese Woodblock Print, original 8/1858, this Showa era from recarved woodblocks

SIZE IN INCHES: yatsugiri-ban approx. 4 x 5.8 inches

COMMENTS: Number 46 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

THE YOROI FERRY, which we see in the distance loaded with a standing crowd, carried passengers across the Nihonbashi River at the point where it widened abruptly after flowing under Edobashi Bridge. We stand here on the Kayaba-cho side looking west at the harmonious regularity of the warehouses of Koami-cho, where commodities such as rice, soy and oil, brought in from all parts of Japan to supply the shogun's capital, were stored. In the endless stretch that Hiroshige suggests here by exaggerated perspective, we sense the prosperity of the city.

Swallows flit through a summer sky streaked with bright yellow, while a stylish young woman, the bold patterns of her dress a mark of late Edo taste, passes along the near ferry landing. In the middle of the river, an oarsman deftly sculls his small boat, leaving a deep blue wake that suggests swift movement. Beyond him to the right a cargo boat is laden with boxes marked "tea."

The curious pictorial intrusion to the left is the looming prow of a ship, seemingly headed straight for the young woman. This is one of the large cargo ships (godairiki) that hauled much of the local river and coastal trade supplying Edo.

Fine, no flaws