MORNING GLORIES AT IRIYA, TOKYO

Iriya in the Asakusa district was famous throughout the Edo and Meiji periods for its morning glory nurseries, and this meisho-e subject locates the composition within a specific Tokyo neighborhood celebrated for its asagao (morning glory) cultivation. Gekko's print likely depicts the nursery stalls or garden beds in early morning light, with figures browsing among trellised plants heavy with blossoms in violet, white, and deep blue. The morning glory's botanical precision—trumpet-form flowers, lobed leaves, twisting vines—required careful multi-block printing. As a Tokyo-specific subject, the print participates in the broader Meiji documentation of sites that retained Edo-period character amid rapid urban transformation.