Comment - "Mount Atago in Shiba" (芝愛宕山 Shiba Atagoyama) shows the Atago Shrine at Edo Bay. The scene depicts an emissary from Enpuku-ji temple who on every third day of the year performs a ceremony at Atago Shrine for good fortune, health and success and to avert hunger and disease; he wears an elaborate costume representing the messenger of Bishamonten. Bishamonten (毘沙門天), is considered the "chief" of the Four Heavenly Kings and an important figure on his own in Buddhism in Japan, guarding the temples. In Shinto, he is one out of the "Seven Lucky Gods".

He carries an enormous rice paddle for the "Heaping Rice Ceremony," and wears a helmet made from an overturned basket, ferns and strips of dried kelp, with a citrus fruit in the center of the horns. He is actually the proprietor of the Atagoya teahouse atop the hill. The large rice paddle in his hand symbolizes abundance, the seaweed around his neck was distributed after the ceremony among the faithful who used it to brew an infusion against colds. A "yakko" or footman ("奴") follows behind him, and a crowd has gathered at right to watch the proceedings.

Six Edo kites ("Edo-tako", "江戸凧") with their long tails flutter high above the rooftops at left (two small ones directly above the trees), and in the distance, a few white sails dot the water beyond misty clouds.

Another version - depicting about the same scene in "portrait" (vertical) version, is to be found as "Mount Atago, Shiba" (芝愛宕山 Shiba Atagoyama) from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" (名所江戸百景 Meisho Edo Hyakkei). That woodblock shows the same scene from the other side of the building.


Series - "Famous Places in Edo" (Edo meisho, 江戸名所). Another woodblock from the same series, containing kites is "Outside Hibiya, Seen from Sukiya-gashi". For information about other Series of Hiroshige, refer to Hiroshige's "Tokaido" and other series.


Artist - see Biography


Signature - Hiroshige ga 広重画;


Publisher - Yamada-ya Shôjirô (山田屋 庄次郎); two circular censor's seals above the pink signature cassettee (Mera,米良 and Watanabe, 渡辺)


Image Size - 20.3 x  33.0 cm (8 1/2" x 13 1/2") + margins as shown


Condition - single sheet; nishiki-e (cloured woodblock); Horizontal ôban; Yoko-e ('landscape')