Yabu Street at the foot of Atago Hill (Atagoshita yabukoji), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"

From Hiroshige's Meisho Edo hyakkei (One Hundred Famous Views of Edo), published 1856-1858 by Uoya Eikichi, this print depicts Atagoshita Yabukoji, a lane at the base of Atago Hill in the Shiba district of Edo. The series employed the vertical oban tate-e format with bold close-up foreground elements, a compositional strategy Hiroshige developed across his late career to create dramatic spatial recession from near to far. The name Yabukoji — literally a small lane through dense vegetation or bamboo thicket — signals the type of enclosed, shaded path that the composition would convey, with foreground plant forms framing the view down the lane to the hill beyond. Hiroshige's characteristic atmospheric distance, built through pale bokashi gradation in the sky, contrasts with the texturally detailed foreground. The print belongs to the winter section of the series, suggesting bare or sparse vegetation and a still, cold atmosphere consistent with the spare mood Hiroshige cultivated in his late urban landscapes.