「両国花火之図」

A variant state of the Ryōgoku fireworks composition, this print shares its subject with the companion impression but likely differs in ink application, block wear, or colorist choices introduced between print runs. The Ryōgoku fireworks (Ryōgoku hanabi) were an annual summer ritual dating to the Edo period, held on the Sumida River between the two Ryōgoku bridges. Kiyochika's rendering of the event is notable for its departure from conventional fireworks imagery: rather than diagrammatic representations of burst patterns, his kōsen-ga method treats light as an atmospheric phenomenon, with glowing cores diffusing into halos against the night sky. Subtle bokashi gradations in the sky and water areas required careful registration across multiple woodblocks. The scene would have been recognizable to contemporary viewers as a quintessential summer event, even as Kiyochika rendered it with a visual language inflected by Western chiaroscuro techniques he had absorbed during the early Meiji period.