Clear Weather after Snow in the Precincts of the Kanda Myōjin Shrine (Kanda Myōjin keidai yukibare no zu), from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Tōto meisho)

Clear Weather after Snow in the Precincts of the Kanda Myojin Shrine (Kanda Myojin keidai yukibare no zu) comes from Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho), one of Utagawa Hiroshige's many surveys of the Edo skyline. The Kanda Myojin shrine, dedicated to deities including the rebel hero Taira no Masakado, sat on a height overlooking the city and was a popular point from which Edoites could read the topography of their capital. Hiroshige takes the moment immediately after snowfall: the precincts lie freshly white, dark torii and shrine buildings cut sharp silhouettes against the pure ground, and visitors in straw cloaks and parasols stand at the railed terrace watching the city emerge from cloud. In the distance, Mount Fuji rises low and clear on the horizon, the air washed by the storm. The print is a model Edo ukiyo-e landscape print exercise in restraint, where a near-monochrome palette of white, indigo, slate, and warm cedar brown carries the entire mood. Soft bokashi gradations in sky and snowfield set off the architecture. The Harvard Art Museums impression preserves the unprinted whites of the snow and the clean blocking of the trees, qualities that distinguish early states. Among Hiroshige's many shrine and temple designs, this one stands out for the unhurried clarity with which it observes the city after weather has passed through.