Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho)
Toto meisho
About This Series
Utagawa Kuniyoshi's Famous Places in the Eastern Capital, or Toto meisho, belongs to the long-running ukiyo-e tradition of meisho-e, the views of celebrated sites, which by the late Edo period had become one of the central modes through which the city of Edo represented itself to its own citizens. The series, generally placed in the 1830s and into the 1840s and issued through one of the mid-Edo publishers active in the Kuniyoshi network, presents major landmarks of the shogunal capital, ranging from the bridges and theaters of the central wards to the riverbank pleasure grounds, the famous shrines and temples of the suburban fringe, and the seasonal viewing sites that organized the city's calendar. As fukei-e, the sheets adopt the conventions of the genre developed in the wake of Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: oban tate-e formats, strong foreground motifs framing a deeper recession, and a palette built on Berlin blue with carefully chosen warm accents. Kuniyoshi, although best known for the dramatic warrior compositions that made his reputation, here works with a designer's care for atmospheric specificity, and the views document not only the architecture and topography of Edo but also the seasonal customs, the river traffic, the daimyo processions, and the casual leisure of the city's inhabitants. Scholarship since the late twentieth century has emphasized how meisho-e of this period function simultaneously as souvenirs, as guidebook surrogates, and as celebrations of Edo's identity as a metropolis whose famous places had become as iconic as the classical sites of Kyoto. The Toto meisho prints continue to circulate in the international market as representative examples of Kuniyoshi's quieter side and as documentary evidence of the late-Tokugawa city before the dislocations of the Meiji period transformed its visual fabric.
Prints in This Series (6)
Frequently Asked Questions
Utagawa Kuniyoshi's Famous Places in the Eastern Capital, or Toto meisho, belongs to the long-running ukiyo-e tradition of meisho-e, the views of celebrated sites, which by the late Edo period had become one of the central modes through which the city of Edo represented itself to its own citizens. The series, generally placed in the 1830s and into the 1840s and issued through one of the mid-Edo publishers active in the Kuniyoshi network, presents major landmarks of the shogunal capital, ranging from the bridges and theaters of the central wards to the riverbank pleasure grounds, the famous shrines and temples of the suburban fringe, and the seasonal viewing sites that organized the city's calendar. As fukei-e, the sheets adopt the conventions of the genre developed in the wake of Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji and Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: oban tate-e formats, strong foreground motifs framing a deeper recession, and a palette built on Berlin blue with carefully chosen warm accents. Kuniyoshi, although best known for the dramatic warrior compositions that made his reputation, here works with a designer's care for atmospheric specificity, and the views document not only the architecture and topography of Edo but also the seasonal customs, the river traffic, the daimyo processions, and the casual leisure of the city's inhabitants. Scholarship since the late twentieth century has emphasized how meisho-e of this period function simultaneously as souvenirs, as guidebook surrogates, and as celebrations of Edo's identity as a metropolis whose famous places had become as iconic as the classical sites of Kyoto. The Toto meisho prints continue to circulate in the international market as representative examples of Kuniyoshi's quieter side and as documentary evidence of the late-Tokugawa city before the dislocations of the Meiji period transformed its visual fabric.
The Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho) series contains 3 prints, created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
The Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho) series was created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳).
We currently have 6 of 3 known prints from the Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho) series indexed in our collection. Browse them all on this page.
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