Enjoying the Evening Cool at Ryogoku Bridge (Ryogokubashi noryo), from the series "Fashionable Eight Views of Edo (Furyu Edo hakkei)"

Date:: early 19th century
Medium:: Color woodblock print; oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Description

From Eizan's "Fashionable Eight Views of Edo (Furyu Edo hakkei)," this Art Institute of Chicago oban, dated to the early nineteenth century, draws on one of the most beloved summer subjects in Edo culture. Ryogoku Bridge, spanning the Sumida River and lined each evening of the kawabiraki season with food stalls, pleasure boats, and firework crowds, was the city's great public stage for noryo — taking the evening cool. Eizan replaces the panoramic crowd scene with a tight bijin-ga focus: one or two elegant women presented as if they were the season's emblem. The "Eight Views" framework, borrowed from the Chinese Eight Views of Xiao and Xiang and the Japanese Eight Views of Omi, gave Edo designers a way to elevate local scenes to canonical status, and Eizan's contribution dresses each canonical site in the latest hairstyles and kimono patterns. The print is also a useful index of his textile training: the fold and gradation of the women's robes reflect the precision he had absorbed at the Hosokawa fabric shop.

More Prints by Kikukawa Eizan

The Theater District in Sakai-cho (Sakai cho shibai), from the "Fashionable Eight Views of the Eastern Capital (Furyu Toto hakkei)"

c. 1824/29

Color woodblock print; oban

Beauty standing beside morning glories

c. 1814/17

Color woodblock print; center sheet of oban triptych (right sheet: 1963.613)

Returning Sails at Yabase (Yabase kihan), from the series "Fashionable Eight Views of Omi (Furyu Omi hakkei)"

c. 1814/17

Color woodblock print; oban

Komachi Washes the Book (from the series Seven Elegant Episodes from the Life of the Poetess Ono no Komachi)

early 1810s

color woodblock print

More Bridges Prints

Fair Weather After Snow at Yamato Bridge, Kyoto (Yamato bashi no yukibare), Taishô period, dated 1924

Woodblock print

Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

1947

Color woodblock print; oban

Shin Ohashi Bridge (Shin Ohashi), from the series "Twenty View of Tokyo (Tokyu nijukkei)"

1926

Color woodblock print; oban

Sacred Bridge in Nikko (Nikko Shinkyo)

1930

Color woodblock print; oban

Frequently Asked Questions

Enjoying the Evening Cool at Ryogoku Bridge (Ryogokubashi noryo), from the series "Fashionable Eight Views of Edo (Furyu Edo hakkei)" was created by Kikukawa Eizan (菊川英山) in early 19th century.

Enjoying the Evening Cool at Ryogoku Bridge (Ryogokubashi noryo), from the series "Fashionable Eight Views of Edo (Furyu Edo hakkei)" depicts bridges.