About This Print

The artist Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842–1894) designed at least nine different series of prints depicting early Meiji Era Tokyo landmarks.  This scene shows the headquarters of one of the many newspaper offices [possibly that of Nipposha, the publishers of the Tokyo Nichinichi Shinbun (Tokyo Daily News)] located along the Ginza "Brick Street".  If it is the Nipposha office, it dates this print between the time Nipposha first moved its offices to Ginza in May 1874 to their move to new offices at the end of 1876 at Oharicho 1-chome 1-banchi in Kyobashi-ku.¹

For an interesting essay on Ginza Brick Street (aka "Bricktown") see "Ginza Bricktown and the Myth of Meiji Modernization" by Tristan R. Grunow, University of British Columbia.Similar Views of Bricktown

Below are two similar scenes by Hiroshige III.  The presence of a horsedrawn trolley (note the tracks in the road) dates the print on the right to after about 1882, when the trolleys (tetsudo basha) were introduced.  By this time Nipposha's offices had been moved from Ginza to Oharicho (Ohwaricho).

¹ Information on Nipposha's office locations was gathered from William Wetherall's site www.nishikie.com

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#483
Title or Description	Ginza Brick Building  Ginza renga tsukuri 銀座煉瓦造
Artist	Utagawa Hiroshige III (1842–1894)
Series	Famous Places in Tokyo   東京名所の内 Tōkyō meisho no uchi
Signature	Hiroshige ga 廣重画
Seal	"Hiro" diamond seal (see above) [this seal was also used by Hiroshige I]
Publication Date	c. 1875 (Meiji 8)
Publisher	Yorozuya Magobei 万屋孫兵衛 [Marks: pub. ref. 627; seal ref. no. 23-070) 万 板元 日本ばし萬孫 通い Man, hanmoto, Nihonbashi, Manson, Tōri ichi
Carver	unknown
Impression	good
Colors	excellent
Condition	good - minor wrinkling, some soiling within image; ink smudges in margins from printing process; margins untrimmed
Genre	nishiki-e; meisho-e
Miscellaneous
Format	oban
H x W Paper	9 3/4 x 14 1/2 in. (24.8 x 36.8 cm)
H x W Image	8 3/8 x 13 1/2 in. (21.3 x 34.3 cm)
Literature
Collections This Print	Digital Collections of Keio University Libraries

last revision: