Edo prints
| Design: | Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) | |||||
| Title: | Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū | |||||
| Size: | 30 x 21 cm | |||||
| Posthumous printing from newly cut woodblocks | ||||||
| Photography: | Jacques Commandeur |
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Originally released around 1803 by publisher Tsuruya Kiemon.
This reproduction released in 1917 by publisher Tosho Kanko-kai.
Title on the book cover:
| Character | Reading | Meaning | Translation |
| 絵 | e | picture | Picture book with simultaneous views of both banks of the Sumida River |
| 本 | hon | book | |
| 隅 | sumi | corner | |
| 田 | da | rice field | |
| 川 | kawa | river | |
| 両 | ryō | both | |
| 岸 | gan | bank | |
| 一 | ichi | one | |
| 覧 | ran | see | |
| 中 | chū | middle | Second book |
The fifteen prints in this picture book are shown below. Each image can be clicked (and then clicked again) to obtain a larger (and even larger) view of the corresponding print. These images seamlessly continue the panoramic view of the banks of the Sumida river presented in the first book, starting from the bottom right corner of the following table.
The large and very crowded bridge displayed in the first four pages of this book is the Ryōgoku bridge of Tokyo, built in 1659. The bridge depicted in the next two pages, crossed by people with umbrellas to protect themselves against the rain, is the Shin Yanagi bridge.
The view of the banks of the Sumida river continues and ends with the images in the third book.
For more information on each one of these fifteen prints please visit my Hokusai Ehon Sumidagawa website here.
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 15: Anchorage at Koume (continued) |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 14: Anchorage at Koume |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 13: Moon above Ōkawa bridge |
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 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 12: Flying geese above the temple of Tada Yakushi |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 11: The splendor of the sunset near the temple of Komagata |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 10: The ferry from the shore of Onmaya |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 9: The high votive lantern of the Kaya temple |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 8: Evening cicadas in the oak |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 7: Hook fishing boats near the pine of Shubinomatsu |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 6: Rainbow above bamboo warehouses |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 5: Sudden rain at new Yanagi bridge |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 4: Full daylight near Muenji (continued) |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 3: Full daylight near Muenji |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 2: The Benten shrine near Ichino bridge |
 Ehon Sumida Gawa Ryōgan Ichiran Chū - 1: Enjoying the cool evening at Ryōgoku bridge |
References
- Forrer, Matthi (2010). Hokusai. Munich: Prestel Verlag.
- Forrer, Matthi (2012). Hokusai: Coup d’oeil sur les deux rives du fleuve Sumida, suivi de: Le fleuve Yodo. Paris: Editions Hazan.
- Hillier, Jack (1980). The art of Hokusai in book illustration. London: Sotheby Parke Bernet Publications; Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
- Nagata, Seiji (1999). Hokusai. Genius of the Japanese Ukiyo-e. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
- Sadamura, Tadashi (1987). Ima, Hokusai ga yomigaeru Ukiyoe hanga ga suriagaru made. Publisher: Kawade Shobo Shinsha.
Provenance: The legacy of Colonel Howard Ayers, attaché to General Douglas MacArthur during World War II