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
From Eizan's "Fashionable Eight Views of Edo (Furyu Edo hakkei)," this Art Institute of Chicago [oban](/glossary/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](/glossary/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.
c. 1824/29
Color woodblock print; oban
c. 1814/17
Color woodblock print; center sheet of oban triptych (right sheet: 1963.613)
c. 1814/17
Color woodblock print; oban
early 1810s
color woodblock print
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)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
1926
Color woodblock print; oban
1930
Color woodblock print; oban
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.