（千本杭両国橋）

Titled （千本杭両国橋）, 'Ryōgoku Bridge with the Thousand Piles,' this print depicts the wooden pilings driven into the Sumida River bed adjacent to Ryōgoku Bridge—a distinctive feature of the site that appeared in earlier views of Edo and remained visible into the Meiji period. The piling field created a complex foreground element of vertical forms reflected in the river surface, well suited to Kiyochika's interest in the interaction of solid structures with moving or reflective water. Ryōgoku Bridge was among the most pictorially significant sites in the tradition of Edo urban imagery, and Kiyochika's treatment would have distinguished itself from Hiroshige's precedents through a heightened attention to atmospheric conditions and tonal gradation. The bridge's wide expanse in the middle ground and the open Sumida sky above provided ample space for his characteristic light effects.