Ryogoku Bridge — 両国橋

Ryogoku Bridge, marked 両国橋 in Japanese, spans the Sumida River at one of its widest points, connecting the historic Nihonbashi and Honjo districts of Tokyo. The bridge's name, meaning "two provinces," recalls its Edo-period function as a crossing between Musashi and Shimosa provinces. Nouet's oban woodblock print depicts this major river crossing within the context of the broad Sumida, whose banks served as the setting for summer fireworks, boat festivals, and the riverside pleasure quarters that defined Edo popular culture. The bridge area was also the site of sumo wrestling's spiritual home at the Ryogoku Kokugikan arena. Nouet's composition likely encompasses the wide horizontal sweep of river, bridge, and distant bank, a format that echoes Hiroshige's famous Sumida River views while bringing a twentieth-century European perspective to the same geography.