Geese Descending on the Sumida River (Sumidagawa no rakugan), from the series "Eight Views of Prosperity in the Eastern Village (Azuma no sato eiga hakkei)"

A second print from Koryusai's series Azuma no sato eiga hakkei (Eight Views of Prosperity in the Eastern Village), held by the Art Institute of Chicago and dated to about 1770 to 1772, this chuban design takes the Geese Descending theme of the classical hakkei and places it on the Sumida River, the great waterway running through eastern Edo. The Sumida was the city's most picturesque river, lined with cherry trees, teahouses, and pleasure boats, and the descending geese motif gave Koryusai an opening to combine atmospheric river landscape with the figural motifs of his bijin-ga. The print pairs naturally with the series' Ikenohata sheet, also in the Art Institute, and together they show how Koryusai used the hakkei scaffolding to produce a coherent topographical and bijin-ga program for the eastern village of Edo.