Precints of the Akiba Shrine, Ukeji (Ukeji Akiba no keidai), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"

Precincts of the Akiba Shrine, Ukeji (Ukeji Akiba no keidai) is a vertical landscape print by Utagawa Hiroshige, designed in 1857 for One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei). The Akiba Shrine in the eastern suburb of Ukeji was a popular destination for Edo residents seeking blessings against fire, and its garden, with its tranquil pond and curving paths, was widely visited in spring. Hiroshige sets the viewer high above the precinct, looking down on a serpentine pond ringed with cherry trees in full bloom. Two visitors in colorful kimono are visible from above, walking along a path among the trees, and a small structure beside the pond suggests a teahouse. In the upper distance, the rice fields and houses of Ukeji extend toward a horizon flushed with bokashi pink and pale green. This design is one of the most photographically composed in the Hundred Views series; the steep "bird's-eye" perspective Hiroshige adopts is often cited as evidence of his late-career interest in unusual viewpoints. Although Hiroshige is best known as a master of landscape print and Edo ukiyo-e topography, here the subject is as much about leisure and seasonal pleasure as about geographic place. The Art Institute of Chicago impression preserves the soft pinks of the cherry blossoms and the deep green of the pond, characteristic of an early printing.