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Japan: Summer: The Ferry at Sakasai (逆井のわたし). Image 67 of '100 Famous Views of Edo'. Utagawa Hiroshige (first published 1856–59)

Japan: Summer: The Ferry at Sakasai (逆井のわたし). Image 67 of '100 Famous Views of Edo'. Utagawa Hiroshige (first published 1856–59)

Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (名所江戸百景), actually composed of 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-19th century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series includes many of Hiroshige's most famous prints. It represents a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The series continues with summer (夏の部). Summer amusements of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Months are represented in numbers 43 through 72. Evening outings in pleasure boats on the Sumida River were taken along the many famous bridges of Edo, where endless varieties of entertainment were offered.

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).

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