Object number2025.22.3

A Real View of Nihonbashi with Horse-Drawn Train

Date1882

Publisher Ōkura Shirōbei

CultureJapanese

MediumWoodblock print (ōban triptych); ink and color on paper

DimensionsSheet (Each): 14 9/16 x 9 3/4 in. (37 x 24.8 cm)
Overall: 14 5/8 x 28 7/8 in. (37.2 x 73.3 cm)

Credit LinePurchase, Betsy Mudge Wilson, class of 1956, Memorial Fund

Period19th c (Meiji period)

Classification(s)

Vassar Exhibitions

Bunmei Kaika: Political Landscape in Early Modern and Modern Japan

Label TextThe area around Nihonbashi was another location in Tokyo that underwent major architectural development and technological advancement in the Meiji period. The panorama of a bustling cityscape in Utagawa Hiroshige III’s A Real View of Nihonbashi with Horse-Drawn Train conveys optimism in rapid progress. Since Nihonbashi was a familiar site in meisho-e (pictures of famous places) from the Edo period and the nexus of main highways such as the Tōkaidō, the radical changes to the area depicted in this print would have been quite effective in communicating the evolving physical and societal landscape. Present in the lower right of the print is the designation ōju (by special commission), which accompanies the artist’s signature, indicating the print made at the request of a specific patron rather than at the initiative of a publisher. Published on June 10, 1882, Hiroshige III highlights the shuttle carriage service railway between Nihonbashi and Shinbashi completed that year. Other innovations such as the Western-style telegraph station, a white building behind the tracks, underscore developments of the time.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu