Japanese poster depicting the serenity and balance of Japanese landscapes - Hiroshige's Asakusa-gawa and Miyato-gawa rivers

"The Asakusa-gawa and Miyato-gawa Rivers and the Great Bank" (original title: 浅草川大川端宮戸川) is a woodblock print by the Japanese painter and illustrator Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) produced in July 1857.

The pronounced verticality of this illustration is emphasized by the expanse of the sky, while the landscape is reduced to a strip at the bottom. In the left foreground stands a tall mast adorned with white and red paper, marking the pilgrimage to Mount Ōyama in Kanagawa Prefecture, 60 km south of Edo. The mountain opens to pilgrims on the 27th of the sixth month, after a purification ceremony in the Sumida River under Ryōgoku Bridge, as shown in the image. In the lower left corner, the heads of several pilgrims can be seen covered in white and blue cloth, while to the right, another boat carries new passengers, led by a mountain ascetic playing a shell. The return of the pilgrims is depicted in another print. This stretch of the Sumida River was renamed in later prints: "Boats near Ryōgoku with a view of Asakusa in the distance."