Ten Views of Tokyo, AKASAKA MITSUKE

From Nouet's Ten Views of Tokyo series, this oban woodblock print returns to Akasaka Mitsuke as one of the ten locations the artist selected to represent the character of the capital. The series format, echoing the Japanese tradition of meisho (famous place) collections, allowed Nouet to curate his personal vision of Tokyo from the hundreds of potential subjects the city offered. Akasaka Mitsuke's inclusion signals its importance as a site where Tokyo's feudal past remains visible in the stone walls and moat remnants of the castle's outer defenses, even as modern transportation and commerce flow around them. The Ten Views format imposes a discipline of selection that reveals what Nouet found most essential about Tokyo, and this gateway location, where old and new literally face each other across a moat, embodies the city's layered historical identity.