113. Aoi Slope Outside Toranomon Gate 1857

Editor: This woodblock print, “113. Aoi Slope Outside Toranomon Gate,” was created in 1857 by Utagawa Hiroshige. The scene feels so calm and almost secretive, set at night with people carrying lanterns. What draws your eye when you look at this piece? Curator: For me, it’s the staging of public life against a backdrop of Edo-era infrastructure. Consider the role of the Toranomon Gate, not just as a physical boundary of the city, but as a symbolic threshold. This print, part of "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo," was made at a time when Japan was on the cusp of massive social and political change. Editor: What kind of change? Curator: The end of the Edo period was marked by growing internal dissent and external pressure to open Japan to the West. Hiroshige's prints were in high demand, particularly because of loosened restrictions from the Tenpō Reforms that caused social reforms during this time. I see this piece almost like a nostalgic reflection, romanticizing a fleeting way of life that would soon disappear because they weren't as strict. The stars overhead and the figures along the roadside contribute to the charm, sure. Editor: So you are saying that Hiroshige wasn't just capturing pretty scenes? Curator: No, not only! These views were also deeply tied to the marketing of Edo, projecting its cultural values, and even indirectly commenting on its socio-political dynamics, think of ukiyo-e as something similar to advertisement! Even those dogs lounging in the lower left, they're a detail but could also signal leisure and peace during increasing uncertainty. How might that understanding shift our view of ukiyo-e today? Editor: I hadn't thought of it like that before. It adds so much depth knowing about the societal shifts occurring at that time. I see how seemingly simple landscape print reveals so much more about the public sentiment of an era. Curator: Exactly, art is seldom just what is depicted. Looking at who creates art, why, and under what societal conditions, grants so much deeper knowledge and informs social narratives in history.