Aoigasaka

Aoigasaka, dated 1843 and preserved at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is an Edo ukiyo-e landscape print by Utagawa Hiroshige depicting one of the steep slopes on the western edge of central Edo. Aoigasaka, the Hollyhock Slope, lay near the daimyo residences of the inner city and was named for the hollyhock crest of the ruling Tokugawa family, whose nearby mansions and gardens famously displayed the plant. The slope was lined with the high white-plastered walls of samurai estates and offered glimpses of distant Edo Bay and Mount Fuji. Hiroshige stages the scene with a typical eye for elevation: the road climbs diagonally across the composition, with travelers and palanquin bearers laboring up the incline while a few figures pause at the crest to take in the view. Bokashi gradations soften the sky and modulate the wooded backdrop, while restrained ochres, indigos, and grays evoke the austere yet refined character of the surrounding warrior quarter. The 1843 date places the print in Hiroshige's mature period, when his attention to the everyday landmarks of Edo had begun to crystallize into the formula that would culminate in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. As an example of the artist's mid-career landscape print work, Aoigasaka shows how he transformed even modest slopes and side streets into evocative urban scenes.