「[御茶の水螢]」

This print depicts fireflies along the Kanda River at Ochanomizu, a district in central Edo-era Tokyo whose name — 'tea water' — derives from a spring once used by the Tokugawa shogunate. Kiyochika's kōsen-ga technique is well suited to this subject: the faint, cold luminescence of fireflies against a dark summer riverbank allowed him to explore his signature interest in scattered point-light sources. The scene likely renders the steep stone embankments of the Kanda River cutting through the elevated terrain, with the small lights of fireflies echoing the glow of lanterns or distant dwellings. Bokashi gradations in the sky and water would create the atmospheric depth characteristic of his nocturnes. The oban-format composition reads as a quiet meditation on summer evening leisure in a city undergoing rapid transformation.