Shitaya, Twelve Views of Tokyo

This depiction of Shitaya from the Twelve Views of Tokyo series places an old shitamachi neighborhood at the center of Hakutei's Taishō-period urban documentary project. Shitaya (下谷), known for its temple grounds, merchant streets, and proximity to Ueno's cultural institutions, represented a Tokyo that retained visible connections to its Edo-period past even as surrounding districts modernized rapidly. The print likely emphasizes the layered built environment of the district — tiled rooftops receding in perspective, wooden storefronts, perhaps a glimpse of Ueno hill in the background. Hakutei's sosaku-hanga approach meant he personally controlled each stage of production, from design through carving and printing, a contrast with the divided-labor system of shin-hanga publishers. The result carries the directness of an artist working from observation, with compositional choices that reflect both his Western academic training and his grounding in Japanese print conventions, including the use of flat color fields bounded by precise key-block lines.