Here Hiroshige Utagawa, a member of the prolific school of artists who adopted the family name of Toyoharu Utagawa (1735–1814), follows the convention of another famous master, Hokusai, who depicted many views of well-known landscapes. This print, part of a series of thirty-six views of Tokyo, testifies to the capitol’s rapid modernization under the Meiji Restoration. Two-horse carriages and rickshaws, a Meiji invention, were soon supplemented with streetcars and trains. Inaugurated in 1872, the country’s first railroad line ran between Yokohama, the prosperous seaport, and Tokyo’s Shimbashi Station, which is shown below.

Shimbashi Train Station, Tokyo, Early Meiji (1868–1912)
Hiroshige Utagawa
Color woodblock, 7 x 9 1/2 in.