Traditional Print Inspired by the Clean and Timeless Aesthetics of Japan - Hiroshige's Suidō Bridge and Surugadai District

"Suidō Bridge and Surugadai Ward" (original title: 水道橋駿河台) is a woodblock print by the Japanese painter and illustrator Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) produced in May 1857.

A large carp-shaped banner (koinobori) suspended from a pole dominates the foreground, accompanied by two other similar banners. These are displayed during the "Children's Festival" (Kodomo no hi), held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the calendar, in honor of six- or seven-year-old children, celebrating their courage and virility. The carp, symbols of strength and endurance due to their ability to swim against the current, are strikingly rendered with silvery-reflecting scales thanks to the use of mica in the printing technique (kirazuri). In the lower right corner of the image, Suidō Bridge is crossed by a procession of warriors heading towards Surugadai, a samurai district, with Mount Fuji in the background. Hiroshige faithfully represents this traditional festival of the samurai, the milieu from which his family originated, while adding with humor and irony three oversized carp, symbols typically associated with the chōnin (city dwellers), who only began to celebrate this festival a few decades ago.