Japanese Woodblock Print, originally published 5/1857, this Showa era from recarved woodblocks

SIZE IN INCHES: yatsugiri-ban approx. 4 x 5.8 inches

COMMENTS: Number 76 from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

THIS SERENE VIEW OF THE FULL MOON rising over Kyobashi Bridge recalls many earlier bridge and moon compositions by Hiroshige. Here, however, he has avoided the compositional novelty of earlier efforts, in which the view was from under the bridge, and has emphasized the clarity of the night and the contrast of the elongated vertical elements against the finely detailed recession into the far distance. The impossibly tall pillars of the bridge recall Whistler's Nocturne in Blue and gold: Old Battersea Bridge (1872) in the Tate Gallery, London, which is thought to have been influenced by Hiroshige, perhaps by a copy of this very print.

Kyobashi was the first bidge on the Tokaido south of Nihonbashi Bridge, with which it shared the distinctive jewel-shaped metal rail ornaments known as giboshi; the near one here points directly at the moon. The only other bridges in Edo permitted these ornaments were those leading to the gates of Edo Castle. The Kyobashi's were perpetuated in stone in 1975, and one of them was preserved when the bridge was destroyed in 1965; it may be seen today in front of a nearby police station.

Fine, no flaws