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Kanagawa Noge Yokohama (left); fukei ban (right) Title: Kanagawa, Noge, and Yokohama Artist: Hiroshige II (1826-1869) 1861:2 (left) and 1861:6 (right) Format: Woodblock print Medium: Ink and color on paper Dimensions: triptych: 34.9 x72.2 cm (13 3/4 x29 1/2 in.) Source: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution Description: Published four months apart in 1861 as independent triptychs under different titles, these six prints together present an aerial view of Yokohama as seen from the bay. The full extent of the city as it appeared in 1861 occupies the center of the composition. Across from the plain, at the far right, Mount Fuji rises above the distant hills. Despite the somewhat sketchy and abbreviated rendering of the scene, Hiroshige II has clearly portrayed the overall scheme of the city of Yokohama and its suburbs. The commercial district of the city at Honchō Itchōme appears in the lower part of the sheet third from the right. Trade goods, possibly bales of raw silk, the principal export commodity of Yokohama, are heaped on the main pier to the left. A large ship flying a striped flag -- the artist's impression of an American flag -- approaches the harbor from the far left. [Adapted from Ann Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan] Visualizing Cultures image number: Y0056 Keywords: Kanagawa, Yokohama, Honchō, United States, steamships, ships, trade goods, flags, Mount Fuji, Japanese District, Benten Shrine |
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