The River of Waterfalls at Oji (Oji Takinogawa), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"

Ōji, in northern Edo, was known for the cascades along the Takinogawa — a small river whose name itself means "river of waterfalls." The site drew Edoites in summer for cool walks beside the rapids and in autumn for maple viewing. Hiroshige's print frames the running water through overhanging foliage and rocky banks, with the cascade rendered in white reserves against saturated greens or reds depending on the season represented. The vertical oban format compresses the viewer between framing trees and the rushing water below. Hiroshige had treated Ōji in earlier landscape series, but the Meisho Edo Hyakkei version carries the abrupt foreground cropping and bokashi-rich color washes that distinguish his final work. The print sits among the natural landscape subjects of the series, contrasting with the dense urban scenes that depict central Edo's bridges, markets, and theatre districts, and showing Hiroshige's continued attention to the cooling and seasonal rituals of the city's outskirts.