Precincts of the Shiba Shinmei Shrine (Shiba Shinmei keidai) from Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho) records one of Edo's most heavily trafficked religious sites, designed by Utagawa Hiroshige as part of his ongoing survey of the city. Shiba Shinmei, located in the southern Shiba district, was a branch of the Ise Grand Shrines and a destination for Edoites who could not undertake the long pilgrimage to Ise itself. Its compound hosted markets, theatrical performance, and the famous Daradara Matsuri, all of which made it a magnet for popular sociability. Hiroshige's print stages the precincts during a busy day: torii, dance stage, and shrine buildings frame a crowd of visitors, hawkers, and pilgrims, with seasonal decoration suggesting one of the festival peaks. The composition exemplifies Hiroshige's gift for fitting human activity into an architecturally precise landscape print: figures are scaled carefully against the shrine fabric, and [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations in the sky and trees soften the otherwise dense organization. As an Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) landscape print, the Shiba Shinmei design also serves as a documentary record of urban religious life on the eve of modernity. The Harvard Art Museums impression preserves the layered registration of crowd, architecture, and atmospheric ground that distinguishes early states of this sheet within the Toto meisho series.
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.
Precincts of the Shiba Shinmei Shrine (Shiba Shinmei keidai), from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Tōto meisho) was created by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) in 20th century.
Yes — Precincts of the Shiba Shinmei Shrine (Shiba Shinmei keidai), from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Tōto meisho) is part of the Famous Places in the Eastern Capital series by Utagawa Hiroshige.
Precincts of the Shiba Shinmei Shrine (Shiba Shinmei keidai), from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Tōto meisho) depicts landscapes, edo & tokyo, and famous places (meisho-e).
