About This Print

Source: Meiji Revisited The Sites of Victorian Japan, Dallas Finn, Weather Hill, Inc. 1995 p. 145
Azumabashi 吾妻橋, built in 1887, was the first metal bridge spanning the Sumida River.  It was officially dedicated and opened to the public on December 9, 1887.   It served the bustling pleasure quarter of Asakusa on one side and a beer factory on the other.  Japanese woodblock artists drew its vertical posts and diagonal eyebars in Western perspective and for good measure populated the walkway with ladies in bustles and the deck with top-hatted gentlemen in carriages.

Period Photos

Photo of Azumabashi, July 1900

Color Postcard of Azumabashi, date unknown

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#269
Title (Description)	あずまばし Azumabashi (Azuma Bridge)
Series	東亰名勝會 Tokyo meishō-e
Artist	Utagawa Kunitoshi (1847-1899)
Signature	国利画 Kunitoshi ga in red cartouche, lower right-hand corner
Seal
Pub. Date	December 10, 1888 (Meiji 21)
Publisher	辻岡文助 Tsujiokaya Bunsuke [Marks: seal not shown; pub. ref. 548]
Engraver
Impression	fair (misregistration, but not untypical for many Meiji-era prints)
Colors	excellent
Condition	good- minor soiling and wrinkling; small tear at top edge, repaired
Genre	ukiyo-e; meisho-e; kaika-e
Miscellaneous
Format	vertical oban
H x W Paper	13 5/8 x 9 3/8 in. (34.6 x 23.8 cm)
H x W Image	13 1/4 x 8 11/16 in. (33.3 x 22.1 cm)
Literature
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