Signed: Hiroshige ga; artist’s seal: Ichiryūsai; Publisher’s logo: “to” (Yamaguchiya Tōbei); censor’s seal: kiwame; Medium tanzaku, 37.0 x 9.9 cm; nishiki-e with fukibokashi

From the series “Famous Places in the Eastern Capital”. The rare, mid-sized tanzaku format is produced by splitting an ōban sheet lengthwise. In the Asakusa district, to the north of Edo, Matsuchiyama Hill rises up over the western bank of the Sumida-gawa in the evening twilight, while barges and houseboats ply their way through the Sanya Canal. High above the restaurants on the riverbank, the Shōdengū Shrine, dedicated to Shōden, the Good of Good Fortune, rises up out of the darkness.

John Mellor (Sotheby’s, July 1963)
Riese Collection #162

Matsuchiyama was located on the east bank of the Sumida River just south of Ryōgoku Bridge. It was the site of Honyūin, a branch temple of Kinryūzan, the large temple in Asakusa on the other side of the river. The main hall of the temple contained an image of the elephant headed god Mangiten who was also called Shōden, and the hill was also known therefore, as Shōdenyama.
Medium tanzaku like this were printed two to a vertical ôban sheet. Suzuki lists nine surviving subjects in the set, but at least ten must have been originally designed and printed.

Reproduced in: Ingelheim catalogue, no. 132.