Hibiya

Hibiya, the district adjoining the Imperial Palace grounds in central Tokyo, underwent dramatic transformation during the Meiji and Taisho periods as Western-style government buildings and Hibiya Park — Japan's first Western-style public park, opened in 1903 — reshaped the urban landscape. Nouët's print likely depicts this area's distinctive hybrid character: formal European-influenced architecture, wide Meiji-era boulevards, or the park's manicured grounds framed against the moat and stone walls of the palace. The subject would have appealed to Nouët's dual sensibility as both a European observer and a long-term Tokyo resident. The composition may employ a receding perspective along one of the broad avenues, with bare or leafed-out trees providing vertical rhythm. Printed on [oban](/glossary/oban)-format [washi](/glossary/washi) in multiple carefully registered color blocks, the image would demonstrate the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) attention to seasonal atmosphere through sky gradation and foliage color.