Kasumigaseki, from the series “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)”

Kasumigaseki, from the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, depicts the government district of Edo where the compound walls of daimyo residences lined the western approach to Edo Castle. Hiroshige's meisho-e treatment likely emphasizes the broad avenue, moat, or pine-lined perimeter of the district, with the plastered walls or rooflines of a high-ranking compound framing the view toward the castle environs. The One Hundred Famous Views series (1856–1858) used the vertical oban format to exploit dramatic foreground-to-background contrasts, often positioning architectural surfaces or trees close to the picture plane while extending the view toward distant hills or sky. Kasumigaseki's character as a restricted administrative district — rather than a popular leisure destination — gives this print a more restrained subject, with compositional emphasis likely on the ordered geometry of compound walls, broad unpopulated streets, and the open space characteristic of samurai neighborhoods in Edo's western quarters.