東京汐留鉄道舘蒸汽車待合之図（中の1枚）

About this print

This is the center sheet of Tokyo Shiodome Tetsudokan Jokisha Machiai no Zu (Waiting for the Steam Train at Shiodome Station, Tokyo), a triptych (three sheets placed side by side to form one picture) published in 1873 (Meiji 6). In front of a locomotive stopped at the platform are two women in striped and checked kimono and geta clogs, women in frilled dresses, a man in a top hat, a little girl being led by the hand, and a puppy. The print is signed "Ryusai Hiroshige," and the artist is thought to be Utagawa Hiroshige III.

Made the year after the railway opened, the print shows Japanese and Western clothing side by side on the same platform. When the line opened, it had ten locomotives shipped from Britain. One of them was Locomotive No. 1, built in 1871.

Locomotive No. 1 is now on display at the Railway Museum in Saitama City. In 1997 it became the first railway vehicle to be designated a national Important Cultural Property.

Glossary