Picture Book of Places of Entertainment in the Eastern capital

Published in 1802, this work by Katsushika Hokusai is a printed picture book devoted to the famous entertainment districts of Edo, the Eastern capital. The genre of meisho-e, or pictures of famous places, was already flourishing when Hokusai turned his attention to it, but his Picture Book of Places of Entertainment in the Eastern Capital combines the conventions of the guidebook with the visual ambitions of fine ukiyo-e illustration. Each opening presents a celebrated location, populated with the citizens and visitors who actually frequented it, with attention to the architecture, signage, and seasonal atmosphere of the spot. As an Edo ukiyo-e print project, the book is an example of how the woodblock medium scaled from the individual sheet to the bound volume, allowing artists like Hokusai to develop sustained, multi-image narratives of city life. The Victoria and Albert Museum preserves a copy of this picture book within its collection of Japanese illustrated books. The publication coincided with a period in which the cultured residents of Edo and the provincial pilgrims who flocked to the city alike consumed prints, guidebooks, and travel literature in growing volume. Hokusai's contribution stood out for the variety of his viewpoints and his readiness to vary scale and angle from page to page, giving readers a sense of moving through the streets rather than viewing static set pieces. The book also documents specific theaters, tea houses, restaurants, and seasonal spots, many of which would be transformed or destroyed over the nineteenth century. As social record and as art, it represents an important early stage of his lifelong fascination with the visual texture of the city he called home.