Shinagawa Susaki (Shinagawa Susaki), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"

Utagawa Hiroshige's Meishô Edo Hyakkei (One Hundred Famous Views of Edo), published in ôban tate-e format between 1856 and 1858, is one of the canonical achievements of Edo-period polychrome nishiki-e printing. Shinagawa Susaki, a low-lying spit of land extending into Edo Bay south of the city, was known as a gathering place for shorebirds and offered open views across the bay toward the capital. Hiroshige's designs in the One Hundred Famous Views series frequently employ close foreground elements—a bird, a branch, a hanging object—to establish dramatic near-to-far spatial compression. The Shinagawa Susaki design is typically associated with a perched or hovering bird over water, the flat bay horizon behind it and the distant smudge of Edo's rooflines and hills providing a sense of atmospheric distance. The full range of Edo polychrome technique is present: multiple color blocks, delicate bokashi gradations in sky and water, and the distinctive mica-dusted or burnished black of the keyblock printing.