Hiroshige II's series 'Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Tōto meisho)' (1860-64)

Introduction

The prints shown here are almost certainly from three separate series (depending on exactly how one defines 'series'). They are grouped here on a single page to make it easier for someone to work out which series a print with this series name is from.

Although they all bear the same series name, they are likely three separate series because they were printed by three separate publishers, and the prints produced by each publisher have modest differences between them (e.g. in title cartouche layout). Finally, there are also several years between each group, which would tend to rule out the known scenario of a number of publishers co-operating to produce a series. The series has a fairly generic name, and so on its own not much can be gleaned from that.

The publishers involved (with dates of their prints) are:

• 1860 - Yorozuya Kichibei
• 1862 - Izumiya Ichibei ('trade' name Kansendō)
• 1864 - Maruya Tetsujirō

The series dates from the middle of Hiroshige II's career, when he was in his middle thirties. All the prints in the 'series' are signed 'Hiroshige'; Hiroshige II had taken over the gō of his master Hiroshige I after Hiroshige I died (in 1858).

The Prints

If we have a higher-quality image, that image can be viewed by clicking on the "Large Image" link, which gives the size of the image (for the benefit of those on slow links). Sometimes there is more than one, if our best-quality image has issues (e.g. trimmed margins).

Prints produced by Yorozuya Kichibei

Images	Large Image	Date	Title (Kanji)	Title (Rōmaji)	Title (English)	Comments
	396KB	1860/10	猿川町 繁栄 之 図	Saruwaka-machi han'ei no zu	Image of a thriving Saruwaka District

Prints produced by Izumiya Ichibei (Kansendō)

The prints in this series seem to be mostly found in aizuri-e, which is a little odd, since prints of that type were 'en vogue' about forty years earlier. However, some have been seen in 'daylight' color schemes, such as this alternative one of Kameido.

Images	Large Image	Date	Title (Kanji)	Title (Rōmaji)	Title (English)	Comments
	377KB	1862/2	浅草 金竜山	Asakusa Kinryūzan	Kinryūzan (Temple) at Asakusa	Literally translated, Kinryūzan means 'gold dragon mountain'.
	373KB	1862/2	隅田川 三囲 堤	Sumida-gawa Mimeguri tsutsumi	Mimeguri Embankment on the Sumida River	Although this particular print is trimmed, another copy includes the publisher seal, which verifies the publisher.
	374KB	1862/2	日本橋	Nihon-bashi	Japan Bridge
	417KB	1862/2	高輪 夕景	Takanawa yūkei	Evening view at Takanawa
		1862/2	上野 清水堂 満花	Ueno Shimizu-dō manhana	Full flower at Ueno Shimizu Main Hall
		1862/2	両国 川?	Ryogoku ?	Ryogoku (Bridge)
	372KB	1862/3	芝 愛宕山	Shiba Atago-san	Mount Atago in Shiba
	1056KB	1862/3?	亀戸 天神	Kameido tenjin	Kameido Temple
	501KB	1862/3	吉原 中之町	Yoshiwara Naka-no-chō	Naka-no-chō in the Yoshiwara
		1862/3?	三縁山 増上寺	San'en-zan Zōjō-ji	San'en-zan Zōjō Temple

Prints produced by Maruya Tetsujirō

Images	Large Image	Date	Title (Kanji)	Title (Rōmaji)	Title (English)	Comments
	471KB	1864/6	霞ヶ関 春之景	Kasumigaseki haru no kei	View of the New Year at Kasumigaseki	The month of this print is possibly '4'; the censor seal is ambiguous.