Spring Scene of Nakanocho in the New Yoshiwara (Shin Yoshiwara Nakanocho haru no kei), from the series "Newly Selected Famous Places in Edo (Shinsen Edo meisho)"

Spring Scene of Nakanocho in the New Yoshiwara is Utagawa Hiroshige's view of the central street of Edo's licensed pleasure quarter, produced in 1834 as part of the series Newly Selected Famous Places in Edo. The Art Institute of Chicago holds an impression of the sheet (object 155856). Nakanocho was the broad axis that ran through the New Yoshiwara, lined in spring with cherry trees that were planted seasonally and removed once the blossoms faded. Hiroshige treats the avenue from a slightly elevated viewpoint, with the rows of teahouse facades to either side framing a procession of figures along the street. Pale pink masses of cherry blossom anchor the middle ground, while the long perspective lines lead the eye into the depth of the quarter. As an Edo ukiyo-e landscape print, the sheet sits between two genres: it borrows the urban-topographical vocabulary that Hiroshige used in his famous-places series, but its subject is one more often associated with bijin-ga, the courtesan and beauty print. Newly Selected Famous Places in Edo gave him a chance to expand his coverage of the city beyond riversides and temple precincts to include the social spaces of the chonin merchant class. For collectors, the design illustrates the artist's interest in showing how seasonal display shaped the experience of Edo, even in its most regulated entertainment district.