Looking at the Great Fire from Hisamatsu-chô (Hisamatsu-chô nite miru shukka), Meiji period,

This print records one of the great fires that periodically swept through the densely built neighborhoods of Meiji Tokyo. The viewpoint from Hisamatsu-chô, a district in the Nihonbashi area, places the observer at a specific vantage point watching the conflagration from a safe remove. Fire subjects allowed Kiyochika to deploy his full range of atmospheric effects: the orange-red glow of active flames illuminating smoke columns, the silhouetted rooftops of foreground buildings, and the darkened sky transitioning from deep indigo to warm amber at the horizon. Crowds of onlookers gathered at a distance are likely rendered as small, dark figures, their faces lit by reflected firelight. The print sits within a documentary tradition of kawarabanzai fire-news prints while demonstrating the technical sophistication of Kiyochika's light-rendering methods.