Hollyhock Slope, No. 41 from the series Forty-Eight Famous Views of Edo

 

Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Hollyhock Slope, No. 41

from the series Forty-Eight Famous Views of Edo

by Utagawa Hiroshige II, 1861

Hiratsuka from the series Tōkaidō Road


IHL Cat. #1566

About This Print

A view of the dam along the Hollyhock Slope in Minoato-ku.  "According to Edo Meisho Zue, a gazetteer of Edo published inthe 1810s, 'Beside the dam on the other side of the corner checkpoint, which ison the north side of the reservoir, is an area which has been planted with aoi,hollyhocks. This area is called Hollyhock Hill, and the slope that runsdownwards to the east from here is called Aoizaka, Hollyhock Slope'. The tiledhut in the foreground and the other tiled hut on the hill to the left seem tobe the corner checkpoints, or tsujibansho, mentioned in the gazetteer. Thesecheckpoints were set up in this area where samurai and noblemen resided tomaintain surveillance and keep order. The road sloping to the left is probablyAoizaka; the reservoir and the dam are on the right.1

1 http://www.ukipedia.de/186.php


About the Series Forty-Eight Famous Views of Edo
As with many of Hiroshige II's prints, the prints comprising the series Forty-Eight Famous Views of Edo borrowed from his teacher Utagawa Hiroshige I, as can be seen below.  Hiroshige II used elements from the below design, placing them in a vertical format.

View of Konpiragū Shrine and Hollyhock Hill (Kompiragū Aoizaka no fūkei),
from the series Famous Places in Edo (Edo meisho no uchi), 1853
Utagawa Hiroshige I
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 21.10071 

Print Details

 IHL Catalog
 #1566
 Title or Description Hollyhock Slope, No. 41
  葵坂 四十一  Aoi-zaka
 Series
 Forty-Eight Famous Views of Edo
 江戸名所四十八景 Meisho Edo yonjūhakkei 
 Artist Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826-1869)
 Signature
Hiroshige ga 広重画 (廣重画 as written in cartouche)
 Seal none
 Publication Date
1861 (Man'en 2), 1st month

 酉正改 Rooster 1 aratame
 Publisher
Tsutaya Kichizō [Marks: seal no. 25-427; pub. ref. 556]
Seal reading  蔦吉板 Tsutakichi han
 Impression good
 Colors excellent
 Condition good - minor soiling primarily in lower and right margins; minor edge damage to margins; 4 pin holes from book binding right margin; not backed; margins untrimmed
 Genre ukiyo-e, fūkei-ga
 Miscellaneous 
 Format vertical chūban
 H x W Paper 
 10 1/16 x 7 3/8 in. (25.6 x 18.7 cm)
 Literature 
 9 x 6 9/16 in. (22.9 x 16.7 cm)
 Collections This Print
 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston : 06.1716, 11.20543, 11.26436 ; Austrian Museum of Applied Arts BI 17426-1-22; Art Gallery of Greater Victoria 2004.026.041; Waseda University Library 請求記号 Call No. チ05 03815 (the entire series bound in book form); Victoria & Albert E.5300-1916