Ukiyo-e Print A Visual Journey Through Japan's Iconic Landscapes - Hiroshige's Kameido Tenjin Shrine

"Inside Kameido Tenjin Shrine" (original title: 亀戸天神境内) is a woodblock print by the Japanese painter and illustrator Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) produced in July 1856.

This print is among the most famous in the series, particularly praised in Europe, notably by Impressionists such as Claude Monet, who drew inspiration from it for his garden at Giverny. It features a large vertical composition, with a cascade of purple wisteria in bloom at the top, through which a landscape is revealed dominated by a bridge with a more pronounced profile than in reality. This bridge, called a taikobashi (drum bridge), is a type of bridge originating in China, said to reflect in the water to form the silhouette of a drum, an effect that Hiroshige did not incorporate in this print. The structure is highlighted by the copper spikes (gibōshi) at the posts, usually reserved for high-level bridges like Nihonbashi and Kyobashi. Although the Kameido Tenjin Shrine is mentioned in the title of the print, it does not appear in the image. This shrine, erected in 1660 to encourage the repopulation of the lands east of the Sumida River, is missing from the depiction. Furthermore, an error is noticeable in the continuity of the blue of the river beyond the horizon, under the bridge, when the image was printed.