Katsushika Hokusai’s Ukiyo-e I will explain Mt. Fuji from Gotenyama Hill in Shinagawa on the Tokaido in Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
Gotenyama in this ukiyo-e is located in present-day Kita-Shinagawa-cho 3-chome, Shinagawa-ku.
Gotenyama is a small hill to the north of Shinagawa-shuku, and during the Yoshimune era, Yoshino mountain cherry trees were transplanted there, making it one of Edo’s leading cherry blossom spots.
It was popular as a place where you can enjoy the sea and cherry blossoms at the same time. Mt.Fuji appears between two cherry trees, as if calculated.
A group of men enjoy drinking on the hills of Gotenyama.
A woman carrying a child on her back with a man carrying a child on his shoulders with his family.
Men playing with fans. It depicts people enjoying cherry blossom viewing in their own way.
The furoshiki (wrapping cloth) worn by the women and children has the Tomoe crest of Eijudo and the mountain with three tomes.
The sea off the coast of Shinagawa expresses waves using the grain of woodblocks, a characteristic of ukiyo-e.
Today, this hill was cut down to remove the earth and sand for land reclamation when the Shinagawa battery was constructed at the end of the Edo period.
It has lost its traces of the past and only remains as a place name.
Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” has a block diagram that clearly shows its shape. The 28th view is Shinagawa Gotenyama.
This ukiyo-e is from around 1830 to 1832. Hokusai is around 72 years old.
