Ueno Park

Ueno Park, established on the grounds of Kan'ei-ji temple in 1873 as one of Tokyo's first Western-style public parks, appears frequently in Kiyochika's urban views. This print likely captures the park at a specific hour or season, exploiting the open space and tree cover as an arena for his kosen-ga lighting experiments. Gas lamps, lanterns, or early electric lighting introduced to the park during the Meiji period would provide opportunities for the nocturnal or twilight illumination effects Kiyochika favored—pools of warm artificial light against darkened paths and foliage. The park also hosted industrial expositions and cultural events that attracted large crowds, and figures in both Western and traditional dress populate many of his Ueno compositions, indexing the social mixing of the Meiji capital.