Kanasugi Bridge at Shibaura (Kanasugibashi Shibaura), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"

Kanasugi Bridge at Shibaura depicts the working waterfront southwest of central Edo, where the tidal flats of Shibaura met the waters of Edo Bay. In Hiroshige's [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) composition from the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei, 1856–1858), the bridge likely frames a view across open water toward distant shores, with fishing boats or cargo vessels occupying the middle ground beneath a [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi)-graded sky. The series, published by Uoya Eikichi, employed the bold vertical [oban](/glossary/oban) format that Hiroshige used throughout to create dramatic near-to-far spatial compressions. Shibaura's character as an active maritime and industrial district — distinct from the leisure waterfront of Shinagawa or the temple precincts of Fukagawa — gives this composition an emphasis on utilitarian activity rather than seasonal spectacle. Prussian blue, a synthetic pigment available to Japanese printers from the 1820s onward, dominates the water and sky passages in this and related views of Edo Bay.