True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: The Destruction of Hisamatsucho in a Fire that Started in Kanda
by Inoue Yasuji
Description
The destruction of Hisamatsucho in a fire that started in Kanda is depicted here as a contemporary news image, Yasuji recording a specific urban disaster with the same observational precision he brought to his documentation of bridges and parks. Fires in Meiji Tokyo — still largely wooden and densely built — could sweep through neighborhoods with terrifying speed, and the conflagration from Kanda spreading to Hisamatsucho in the Nihonbashi area represents exactly this kind of catastrophic urban fire. Yasuji's print functions as visual journalism, a document of a specific disaster that affected real communities.
More Prints by Inoue Yasuji
The Emperor Meiji and Empress in a Carriage during their Silver Wedding Anniversary Celebration at Aoyama
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Taro Inari Shrine in Asakusa-tanbo
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: The Burnt Remains of Ryogokubashi Bridge
Woodblock print
Asakusa Bridge in the Rain (Asakusa-bashi uchû no kei)
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Frequently Asked Questions
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: The Destruction of Hisamatsucho in a Fire that Started in Kanda was created by Inoue Yasuji (井上安治).
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: The Destruction of Hisamatsucho in a Fire that Started in Kanda depicts urban scenes, set at Tokyo.