Former Imperial Palace at Aoyama

The Aoyama district housed an imperial residence whose grounds, by the time of Koizumi's print, had been transferred to other public uses — the area became associated with the Meiji Memorial Picture Gallery and the Outer Garden park. Koizumi's print treats this transformed imperial site as a [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) subject within the One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo series. The composition would balance any surviving architectural elements or commemorative structures with surrounding parkland, a register Koizumi developed through his earlier training in oil and watercolor before his shift to mokuhanga. As with other prints in the Hyakkei series, the work was carved on cherry blocks and printed by the artist himself with a [baren](/glossary/baren) onto [washi](/glossary/washi), reflecting his [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) commitment to single-author production. The "Former" in the title situates the site historically, marking its transition from active imperial use to a different civic role. This documentary frame distinguishes Koizumi's series from earlier [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) meisho-e: he records not only places but also their changing institutional status across Tokyo's interwar transformation.