Kyōto sanjūsangendō no zu

About this print

A long hall lined with vermilion pillars runs straight from the near right toward the far left. Past the pines and bamboo fence on the left, the grounds are busy with worshippers in sedge hats. Under a teahouse umbrella, people sit on benches.

Under the cartouche at the right edge are the words "Utagawa Toyoharu ga" (painted by Utagawa Toyoharu). The cartouche opens with "Uki-e." Uki-e were ukiyo-e that borrowed Western perspective to deepen the sense of space, named for the way the scenery seemed to rise off the paper. Okumura Masanobu is said to have started them, and later Utagawa Toyoharu painted a great many. The name Sanjusangendo comes from the 33 bays between the pillars of the main hall's inner sanctum. In the Edo period, archers shot arrows the length of the hall's veranda, from the south end to the north, in a practice called toshiya.

Against the straight lines of the hall, the people in the grounds on the left are scattered every which way. The veranda's pillars are drawn closer and closer together the farther back they go, and at the lower right corner, several people are drawing bows.

Glossary