True View of the Yasukuni Shrine on Kudanzaka Hill in Tokyo (Tôkyô Kudanzaka jô Yasukuni jinja shinkei)

True View of the Yasukuni Shrine on Kudanzaka Hill in Tokyo (Tokyo Kudanzaka jo Yasukuni jinja shinkei) by Inoue Yasuji is a Meiji woodblock print held by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and documented through ukiyo-e.org. The image depicts Yasukuni Shrine, established in 1869 to enshrine the spirits of those who died in service of the Meiji emperor, on Kudanzaka hill in central Tokyo. By the time Yasuji made the print, Yasukuni had become one of the most architecturally and politically prominent sites in the new capital. Its long approach up the slope, distinctive torii, and broad ceremonial grounds offered a richer subject than most Meiji shrines, and the 'true view' (shinkei) framing announces the print's documentary intent. Yasuji organizes the composition along the rising line of Kudanzaka, with the torii and main hall positioned as the visual goal, foreground figures and structures providing scale, and the surrounding city extending into the distance. His draftsmanship — precise outline, careful tonal gradation, restrained color — is recognizably the inheritance from Kobayashi Kiyochika, applied here to a subject that called for both topographical accuracy and ceremonial dignity. The MFA Boston accession secures provenance and offers reliable reference reproductions. As a Meiji woodblock print of Yasukuni in its early decades, the work has considerable historical significance; for collectors of Inoue Yasuji and of Tokyo views, it represents the artist's most substantial engagement with one of the new state's central religious institutions, and a fine example of the shinkei tradition.