[KANAZAWA HISEKI KINRYŪIN]. 金澤飛石金龍院.

武陽金澤八景略圖. [Buyō Kanazawa hakkei ryakuzu].
[Eight Scenic Views of Kanazawa and Edo Bay].

[Japan]. Early Meiji? Stock ID #218836

Colour woodblock print with light folds, 34.3 x 46.2cm. Small mark lower margin at left on reverse barely visible on the side of the image.

A detailed colour woodblock bird's eye view map looking out across Tokyo Bay from Kinryūin (Golden Dragon Temple), a Buddhist temple which still stands near the bay in the Kanazawa district of Yokohama (not to be confused with the city of Kanazawa on the west coast of Japan).

In the mid nineteenth century, when this image was produced, the temple occupied a small promontory projecting into the sea. Nearby the woodcut shows Biwajima Shrine, situated on an artificial causeway extending into the bay. Beyond appear the roofs of Kanazawa, then an independent coastal village but now a district of Yokohama City, together with a causeway and bridge linking the settlement to the temple precinct. Further in the distance are the coastlines of Kazusa Province on the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and Sugita to the north.

The print offers lively detail of the surrounding landscape, with temples, houses and inns clearly depicted, and the waters of the bay animated with ships and smaller boats. Inset panels give the distances to Kamakura, Enoshima, Yokohama and other nearby destinations, suggesting the print also functioned as a guide to the region. It was most likely produced as a souvenir image for pilgrims and visitors to Kinryūin, which was a popular vantage point overlooking Edo Bay.

The image has additional historical interest because this part of Edo Bay lay close to the area where Commodore Perry’s Black Ships appeared in 1853, an event that precipitated the opening of Japan to Western powers and marked a turning point in the late Edo period.

When referring to this item please quote stockid 218836.

Price: $600.00 AU

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