Kinokuni Hill and Distant View of Akasaka Tameike, dated 1856, is Number 85 in Utagawa Hiroshige's Meisho Edo hyakkei (One Hundred Famous Views of Edo), the late series in which the Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) master surveyed the city through a sequence of meditative views. Kinokunizaka was a slope at the western edge of Edo near Akasaka, named for the residence of the daimyo of Kii (Kishū) province; below it stretched the Tameike, a reservoir-pond ringed by trees and dotted with waterfowl. Hiroshige's design uses the slope as a strong diagonal in the foreground, with travelers descending the road in palanquins and on foot, while the broad surface of the Tameike opens out beyond, framed by trees and the rooftops of samurai mansions. The landscape print conventions of Meisho Edo hyakkei — a striking near motif, a deep middle distance, atmospheric color in the sky, and recognizable urban architecture — combine here to produce one of the more compositionally daring sheets in the series. The 1856 date places the design within the heart of his work on the series, and the Harvard Art Museums impression preserves it at high quality, documenting one of the most distinctive views in Hiroshige's culminating survey of Edo.
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.
Kinokuni Hill and Distant View of Akasaka Tameike (Kinokunizaka Akasaka Tameike enkei), Number 85 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 1856 (9th month).
Yes — Kinokuni Hill and Distant View of Akasaka Tameike (Kinokunizaka Akasaka Tameike enkei), Number 85 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.
Kinokuni Hill and Distant View of Akasaka Tameike (Kinokunizaka Akasaka Tameike enkei), Number 85 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei) depicts landscapes, edo & tokyo, and famous places (meisho-e).
