Japanese Woodblock Print,Showa Era printing, Number 55 from the series One Hundred Views of Edo

SIZE IN INCHES: 4 x 6 inches

IN THE MIDDLE DISTANCE WE SEE A CHANTING MOB OF YOUNG MEN CARRIESTHE SACRED PALANQUIN OF THE SUMIYOSHI SHRINE through the shallow flats surrounding the island of Tsukudajima at the mouth of the Sumida River. Having circled the island, the procession will return to the shrine on its northeast corner -- to the left in this view, which looks across Edo Bay to the distant shore of the Chiba Peninsula.

The giant banner that juts up before us is inscribed in archaic script "Sumiyoshi Daimyojin," an honorific title of the shrine deities, below which the parishioners of Tsukudajima are noted as the donors. The smaller inscriptions to either side provide the date (an "auspicious day" in the Sixth Month of Ansei 4), and the name of the calligrapher, Seikengu Gengyo. This is none other than the poet and artist Baisotei Gengyo, who would eventually design thetable of contents for the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo in memory of Hiroshige, his close friend. The date on the banner is just one month earlier than the publication of the print itself, which thus has a timely as well as a personal element to it. It is said that this very banner still remains in the treasury of the Sumiyoshi Shrine.

The tiny island of Tsukudajima was reclaimed from the flats of Edo Bay in 1645-46 as the port for a group of thirty four whitebait fishermen in the employ of the bakufu. These fishermen brought with them from their native place, a similar island at the mouth of the Kanzaki River in Osaka, both the name Tsukuda and their local Sumiyoshi divinity, protector of mariners and fishermen. The festival commemorating this move ws held on the twenty-ninth day of the sixth month in 1646 and every third year thereafter -- including the year in which this print appeared. The festival is still celebrated today, although the practice of mizu togyo (carrying the shrine through the water) was abandoned in 1963.

VG, minor flaws