#55 Komagatadō Azumakyō (The Komagatado Hall and Azuma Bridge)

Utagawa Hiroshige, artist

1797–1858

#55 Komagatadō Azumakyō (The Komagatado Hall and Azuma Bridge), 1857, Edo period (1600–1868)

Portfolio/Series title: 名所江戸百景 Meisho Edo hyakkei (One-hundred Views of Famous Places in Edo)

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 336 x 223 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 13 1/4 x 8 3/4 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 338 x 224 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 13 5/16 x 8 13/16 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 19 x 14 in

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 2001.0042

Not on display

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Label texts

Archive Label date unknown:
The Azuma Bridge, spanning the Sumida River, is just visible at the left side of this composition, near the pinnacle of the Komakata Hall rooftop in the Sensōji Temple complex, glimpsed in the bottom left corner. The dramatic red flag flying in the center foreground is the banner of a near-by cosmetic shop and reminds the viewer of the safflower-red lipstick worn by courtesans living in the nearby Yoshiwara pleasure quarters.

The flying bird at the top of the image is a small cuckoo that regularly migrates to Japan in early summer. The distinctive cry of the cuckoo is poetically associated with the loneliness of parting lovers at the dawn of a new day. The scene may evoke a poem composed by Takao, a Yoshiwara courtesan. Takao wondered in haiku verse if her departing lover had yet reached the boat landing near Komakata, as she listened to the piercing cry of the cuckoo.