Comment - Lively New Year's scene on the banks of the Sumida River. Two boys standing on a bridge, flying kites. The small reddish Edo kite ("Edo-tako", "江戸凧") and a reddish bird-of-prey kite ("tonbi dako", "鳶凧") are swaying above the river. A peddler with two cases on his back is arriving a couple walking on the bridge. A large barge is setting off to cross the river. Two helmsmen pushing the barge with a pole, carrying eight passengers above the gently undulating surface. Several rowboats and sailboats shipping the Sumida River. A small hemlet is to be seen on the afforested island of Tsukudajima with its Sumiyoshi shrine. The kanji character "恵" on the back of one of the ferry boats passengers is "megumi", referring to "enlightment". He maybe a monk or a visitor, crossing over to Sumiyoshi shrine.

The text on the woodblocks : "Kite at Tsukiji" (Jō - 6), "The island Tsukudajima with its Sumiyoshi shrine in the happy direction" (Jō - 5), "Spring dawn in the provinces of Awa, Shimōsa, and Kazusa" (Jō - 4), and "Sunrise - The first going out of fishing boats in the new year" (Jō - 3).

In addition to prints and paintings, Katsushika HOKUSAI created illustrations for around 250 books, some with multiple volumes. In this set of three volumes, he creates the illusion of a continuous journey along the Sumidagawa, the great river that flowed through Edo, opening into Edo Bay. His uninterrupted landscape, with the river running horizontally, continues as each page is turned. The pictures, designed for the front and back of each folded sheet, show both banks of the river simultaneously, beginning at Edo Bay with a view of Mt. Fuji and ending in volume 3 at the Yoshiwara pleasure district. HOKUSAI’s design defies the interruptions of the individual pages to emulate the continuity of a handscroll. Both scrolls and books are read from right to left.

This sequence of images from each consecutive opening of each volume allows you to see the continuous scene in a way that is not possible when turning the pages of bound books. As in handscroll paintings, Hokusai’s spatially continuous image simultaneously passes through four seasons, from spring to winter at year’s end. He also shifts viewpoint, giving an illusion of zooming in and out, and intersperses clouds to create an effect similar to a cinematic fade.

There is a woodblock named "Spring dawn in the provinces of Awa, Shimōsa, and Kazusa", composed of the the pages No. 4 ("Spring dawn in the provinces of Awa, Shimōsa, and Kazusa") and No. 3 ("Sunrise - The first going out of fishing boats in the new year").


Series - "Picture Book of Both Banks of the Sumida River at a Glance" ("隅田川 両岸一覧", "Ehon Sumidagawa ryogan ichiran sumizuri"), three Manga book volumes ("隅田川 両岸一覧", "Ehon Sumidagawa ryogan ichiran sumizuri")


Artist - see Biography


Signature - none (book); see title of volume 1 ("上")  The Preface consists of three pages and is the only place where the names of the artist and of the original publisher are ever mentioned in this work. The name of HOKUSAI (北斎) written in cursive style, is found just below the middle in the third column of Japanese text from the right of Preface page 1. The shopname Senkakudō (仙鶴堂) - written in cursive style


Publisher - Yoshikawa Kobunkan (吉川弘文館) ("Fuzoku emaki zuga kankokai") in 1917; the original publisher Tsuruya Kiemon (鶴屋　喜右衛門) is at the bottom of the fifth column from the right of Preface page 2.


Book Size  - (each)  30.2 x  21.2 cm   (11 57/67" x 8 11/32")


Condition - Woodblock manga, three volumes; classical "fukurotoji" binding; ink and color on paper; paper covers