Number 72 in Utagawa Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei), this 1858 Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) landscape print is held in the Art Institute of Chicago. The view looks down on the broad mouth of the Tamagawa River at Haneda, where a ferry shuttled fishermen, pilgrims, and travelers between the marshy shoreline and the small Benten shrine perched on a sandbar. In the foreground, two enormous bare feet and a wooden oar break the picture plane in dramatic close-up, signaling that the viewer occupies the boatman's own position. Below and beyond stretches the river, dotted with sails and fishing boats, with the tiny red torii of the Benten shrine and the wooded peninsula of Haneda anchoring the middle distance. On the horizon Hiroshige inserts a soft view of Edo Bay and the distant Boso peninsula. The bold cropping and elevated vantage point are hallmarks of the series and would later astonish European modernists such as Van Gogh. The print combines topographical observation, the spiritual presence of the shoreline Benten cult, and a sly visual joke about who exactly is looking at whom. As a piece of the landscape print tradition, it shows Hiroshige using radical perspective to renew the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) or famous-place genre at the very end of his career.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Haneda Ferry and Benten Shrine (Haneda no watashi Benten no yashiro), Number 72 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei) was created by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) in Edo period, dated 1858 (8th month).
Yes — Haneda Ferry and Benten Shrine (Haneda no watashi Benten no yashiro), Number 72 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei) is part of the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo series by Utagawa Hiroshige.
Haneda Ferry and Benten Shrine (Haneda no watashi Benten no yashiro), Number 72 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei) depicts landscapes, edo & tokyo, and famous places (meisho-e).
