View of Benten Shrine on Nakanoshima Island in Shinobazu Pond, Ueno Park, from the series Famous Views of Tokyo (Tōkyō meisho yori Ueno kōen Shinobazu no ike Nakanoshima Benten no kei)

This May 1881 woodblock print triptych (nishiki-e) by Utagawa Hiroshige III, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession number JP3259), comes from his series "Famous Views of Tokyo" (Tōkyō meisho) and depicts the Benten Shrine on Nakanoshima Island in Shinobazu Pond at the edge of Ueno Park. Ueno had been the site of the Kan'eiji, the great Tokugawa-affiliated Buddhist temple complex, until much of it was destroyed in the 1868 Battle of Ueno that consolidated the Meiji Restoration. The grounds were converted into Tokyo's first public park in 1873 on the European model, and Shinobazu Pond with its central island and Benten Shrine became one of the most painted and photographed sites of the new park. Hiroshige III's print, in standard ōban triptych format at 37.5 by 74 cm, shows the wooden bridge connecting Nakanoshima to the shore, the vermillion-painted Benten Shrine on the island, and visitors strolling under cherry blossoms and pines along the water. The print is part of Hiroshige III's extensive documentation of the new Ueno Park as the emblematic site of Meiji Tokyo's transformation from samurai capital to modern metropolis. It is preserved in the Metropolitan Museum's collection of Japanese woodblock prints.