Brooklyn Museum's Exhibition of 100 Views of Edo (II)

choi

(d) "Notice the way Hiroshige's carvers loaded branches with snow by leaving unprinted space around them, in 'Bikuni Bridge in the Snow' (No. 114), and how the large sign advertising 'mountain whale,' or wild boar meat, upsets your sense of where the picture ends. (Is it writing, or a drawing of writing?) Clock the razor-thin lines of rain that shoot across 'Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake' (No. 58) and the wild composition of 'Plum Estate, Kameido [亀戸 梅屋舗 (屋舗 means a plot of land with a building on it, is translated in English as estate)]' (No. 30): Van Gogh copied them both."
(i) Bikuni Bridge in the Snow  びくにはし雪中 (the hashi is Japanese pronunciation of kanji
(A) The red sign atop the ukiyoe said in HIRAGANA for びくにはし. The びくにはし was 美国橋 (bi-kuni-hashi; 美's Chinese pronunciation bi plus 国's Japanese pronunciation kuni) in Edo, a bridge long gone. In Japan, the United States is bei-koku 米国 (where bei is a long vowel of be, the latter as in English noun and verb bet without t; koku is Chinese pronunciation of kanji 国). The ja.wikipedia.org does not explain bikini, but notes that there WERE two places in Japan that use 美国 in their names and are pronounced bikini. See 美国
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/美国
(美国町 and 美国郡)
(B) On the left margin is a cloth sign 山くじら (which looks huge due to its being in foreground).

Jim Breen Japanese-English dictionary:
* yama-kujira 山鯨 【やまくじら】 (n)" "(from when eating animal meat was considered taboo (pre-Meiji) [thanks to Buddhism]) wild boar meat; mountain whale"
* yūdachi 夕立 【ゆうだち】 (n): "(sudden, heavy) shower (on a summer afternoon or evening):
* hō-sui-ro 放水路 【ほうすいろ】 (n): "flood bypass; floodway; discharge channel; diversion channel"
(ii) "Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake"

Japanese: 大はしあたけの夕立  (pronunciation: Ōhashi atake no yūdachi)

夕立 is defined right above.

The atake (rioting) is a noun whose corresponding verb is atakeru, meaning 暴れ騒ぐ.
(A) Per ja.wikipedia.org for 夕立, whose section 1 (heading 語義) states in toto: "古語としては、雨に限らず、風・波・雲などが夕方に起こり立つことを動詞で「夕立つ（ゆふだつ）」と呼んだ。その名詞形が「夕立（ゆふだち）」である。"

my rough translation: (heading: meaning) In ancient times, (夕立 is) not limited to rain, but wind, (ocean) wave, cloud etc which rise up 起こり立つ in later afternoon (3-6 pm) 夕立: verb being yūtatsu 夕立つ and noun yūtachi.

Compare: Hitachi, Ltd 株式会社日立製作所 was founded in 1910 by electrical engierre Namihei ODAIRA 小平 浪平 in present-day City of Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture 現在の茨城県日立市, on 日立鉱山 that generated 銅- and 硫化鉄鉱. According to ja.wikipedia.org for 日立製作所. The city name came from 日立村 (created in 1889 through merger of two villages) which expanded to 日立町 (via merger) and at last 日立市: ja.wikipedia.org for 日立市 (which also says that from Meiji through 昭和, this sort of mergers happened all over Japan. Hence 日立 has nothing to do with 夕立 in meaning as well as etymology.
(B) I am trying to explain "Shin-Ohashi Bridge" and you have to be patient.

The correct romanization is "Shin-Ōhashi" where ō signifies a long vowel of o. The kanji is 新大橋. Immediately you know there was 大橋.

Early Edo period saw quite a few engineering works: Edo was a low-lying marsh, where Tonegawa 利根川 and Arakawa 荒川 frequently changed courses, but mostly both rivers emptied into Tokyo Bay (as opposed to the current  directly emptying into Pacific Ocean), with 荒川 as a tributary of 利根川. (TONEGAWA Susumu 利根川 進 won undivided Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987, and my Japanese colleague at the time told me: "There is indeed a river in Japan called Tonegawa!")  In early Edo period, the downstream of Tonegawa River (being a river often overflowing 暴れ川) was diverted eastwards. See CURRENT map of 利根川
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/利根川
("日本三大暴れ川の一つで、江戸時代初期に行われた河川改修である利根川東遷事業により、流路を変更された歴史を持つ")

There is a second river you have to know: Iru-ma-gawa 入間川
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/入間川_(埼玉県)
This Wiki page says:
• Currently (about 入間川): "荒川の支流としては最長である。川越市古谷付近で荒川に合流する。"
View the current map in
武州・入間川プロジェクト. 国土交通省 関東地方整備局 荒川上流河川事務所, 令和６年度 (2024)
https://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/arajo/arajo_index049.html
(プロジェクト = Project; 入間川 is painted red, and empties into 荒川 in 川越市. It appears that 新河岸川 (the upstream) and 隅田川 (the downstream) touch 荒川 (read ja.wikipedia.org for 隅田川 below ).
• section 3 歴史: "古代の入間川は単独で東京湾へ注いでいた（最下流は隅田川）。荒川は入間川とは合流していなかったが[注釈 1]、江戸時代の1629年に荒川の付替えが行われ、熊谷市久下から現在の荒川合流点まで開削し、現在の流れが形作られた（利根川東遷事業も参照）。" (brackets original)
my rough translation: In ancient times [probably up to early Edo periodd), 入間川 emptied into Tokyo Bay by itself with the downsream known as 隅田川). 荒川 and 入間川 did not merge. In 1629 (during Edo Period) 荒川 was changed 付替え: From 熊谷市 (熊谷 Kuma-ga-ya (ya = 谷), where gameans the same as の) down until where 入間川 merges into 荒川, 荒川 was excavated 開削 (= 開鑿). And it how 入間川 flows today. Consult 利根川東遷事業 also.
(In the preceding URL, the map doesnot show (埼玉県) 熊谷市, which is located across 和田吉野川 Wadayoshinogawa, on the other bank (norther bank) of current 荒川. (There are quite a few 吉野川 in Japan, so 和田吉野川 is to distinguish which 吉野川 we are talking about.)

The old 荒川 turned into present-day Sumidagawa 隅田川.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/隅田川
("隅田川（すみだがわ）は、東京都北区の岩淵水門から東京湾に注ぐ全長23.5キロメートルの一級河川、荒川放水路が荒川と改名される以前の荒川の本流である。途中で新河岸川・石神井川・神田川・日本橋川などの支流河川と合流する。古くは墨田川 * * * とも書いた")
View the top map: The narrower river is now 隅田川 (which starts at 岩淵水門 and runs 23.5 km), but in early Edo period this WAS the course of 荒川 PROPER. The now wider channel to the east WAS 荒川放水路 (放水路 is defined in Note (d)(i)(B)) but is now called 荒川, situated in less populated area (therefore lacking bridges). The kanji 隅 and 墨 (ink or ink stick) share the same Japanese pronunciation sumi, and that is why the river HAD an ancient name 墨田川.

In this map, pay attention to the bridges spanning the 隅田川: from the top or north down the stream, there ARE: 千住大橋, 両国橋 and 新大橋 (right after 両国橋). Presently all three are concrete, but in Edo period, they were all wooden.

TOKUGAWA Ieyasu 徳川 家康 unified Japan, received the title shōgun 将軍 in 1603 from the emperor and established shōgunate 幕府 in Edo, where he had been starting building his castle in 1593 at then a fishing village called Edo  (after he arrived in Edo in 1590). The next year in 1594, Senju Ōhashi 千住大橋 (the first bridge on 隅田川) was constructed, whose name came from 千手観音 statue (千手 is pronounced senju) that a fisherman named ARAI Masatsugu 新井 政次 pulled up in his net in 1327 from the present-day 隅田川 (then 荒川; and the neighborhood was then identified as 千手 followed by 千住), per ja.wikipedia.org for 千住. To house the statue, his son 新井 政勝 provided financial sipport 開基 to form a temple with Abbott 勝蓮社 専阿 (to 開山) -- the temple was and is (a tiny) Shōsenji 勝専寺 (東京都足立区にある浄土宗の寺院). ja.wikipedia.org for 勝専寺.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/勝専寺

The ja.wikipedia.org for 両国橋 states that for defensive purpose, the Tokugawa shogunate wanted to have just one bridge over then 荒川. But in 1657, there was a big fire engulfing Edo, resident could not escape with just one bridge; the fire burned three days and death was estimated from 30,000 to 100,000.So in 1559 or 1661, the second bridge atop was constructed, Though called 大橋, people identified the bridge as 両国橋, due to its connecting as the 武蔵国 on the west of 荒川 and 下総国 on the east.

新大橋 was the third bridge constructed over 荒川, in 1693. ja.wikipedia.org for 新大橋.
(iii) "Van Gogh copied them both"
(A) Rain (Van Gogh)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_(Van_Gogh)
(B) Plum Park in Kameido
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Park_in_Kameido
• Not to be confused: The top ukiyo-e is attributed to "Andō Hiroshige," something the ja.wikipedia.org for 歌川広重 calls improper 不適切 (pronunciation: hu-teki-setsu: all Chinese pronunciations of respective kanji), which states "本名は安藤重右衛門。幼名を徳太郎 * * * 「安藤広重」と呼ばれたこともあるが、安藤は本姓・広重は号であり、両者を組み合わせて呼ぶのは不適切で、広重自身もそう名乗ったことはない。 * * * 安藤源右衛門の子として誕生。源右衛門は元々田中家の人間で、安藤家の養子に入って * * * 文化8年（1811年）15歳のころ、初代歌川豊国の門に入ろうとした。しかし、門生満員でことわられ、歌川豊広（1774年-1829年）に入門。翌年（1812年）に師と自分から一文字ずつとって歌川広重の名を与えられ")

my rough translation: Birth name was 安藤重右衛門, childhood name Tokutarō 徳太郎 * * * 安藤広重 is improper: 安藤は本姓・広重は号 and Hirroshige himself 広重自身 did not use such. * * * he was son of Andō Gen-emon 安藤 源右衛門. The father was born as a Tanaka 田中 in a samurai family, but was adopted into 安藤 family [and changed the family name]. * * * In 1811 around age 15, he sought teaching in vain from 初代歌川豊国 who had too many student. Instead he was accepted by 歌川豊広. The next year in 1812, he was given the [art] name 歌川, a word each 一文字ずつ [一文字 is pronounced as hitomoji; ずつ each or apiece] from the teacher and himself.

• The second ukiyo-e in this en.wikipedia.org is No 27 (the top is No 30) in the series. No 27 is 蒲田の梅園 (pronunciation: Kamada no umezono). Kanji 梅 has Chinese pronunciation ba-i and Japanese one ume. For kanji 園, the respective pronunciation is en and sono. With two Japanese pronunciations kaba or kama, kanji 蒲 means bulrush, cattail in Jim Breen's Japanese-English dictionary.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulrush

And 蒲田
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/蒲田
(東京都大田区の町名)
has section 4 地名の由来, which advances several theories, all of which are related to the fact that Tokyo was a marsh.
• 聖蹟蒲田梅屋敷公園
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/聖蹟蒲田梅屋敷公園
("江戸時代に薬屋を営んでいた山本久三郎が、文政年間に梅を始めとする多くの木を植え、茶屋を開いたことが起源とされる。   1868年から1897年にかけて明治天皇の9度の行幸がある。1873年3月6日の観梅の際、小梅一株を自らお手植えになる。この梅は「仙粧梅」と称された。 * * * 文政のころは、蒲田の梅屋敷と亀戸の臥龍梅とは人気を二分していたのが知られており、文化文政ごろに、江戸および近郊で梅屋敷というと、蒲田のほかは亀戸と向島に有名なものがあった")
is located at 東京都大田区蒲田. As such, it is distinct from 東京都江東区亀戸(町). The quotation says that Emperor Meiji planted a plum tree there, that in Bunsei era;
that during the Bunsei era, popularity of the umeyashiki in Kamata 蒲田の梅屋敷 and the garyūbai 臥龍梅 in Kameido were equally shared;
and that in the Bunka and Bunsei eras, in Edo and its suburbs, famous Umeyashiki were in Kameido and Mukōjima 向島, besides Kamata.

• Kichiya (which was author's name), Plum Trees Past and Present: 'Plum Garden at Kamata.' Nippon.com, Apr 24, 2018
https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/gu004005/   

sectional heading and two consecutive paragraphs:

"A Garden Fit for an Emperor

"Seiseki Kamata Umeyashiki Park is in the Kamata district of Ōta, Tokyo, not far from Umeyashiki Station [梅屋敷駅]on the Keikyū [Main] Line [京急本線; 京急 is short for 京浜急行 that connects Tokyo and 横浜]. Tradition holds that local merchant Yamamoto Kyūzaburō [山本 久三郎], a hawker of patent medicine for travelers, founded the garden during the Bunsei era [文政 年間] (1818–31) when he planted plum trees around a teahouse he built alongside his store. * * *

"Emperor Meiji visited the park about 10 years after Hiroshige produced the wood-block print and found it so much to his liking that he returned many times thereafter. In honor of this imperial patronage, the term seiseki [聖蹟] (literally 'sacred place') was added to the park's name.



(e) "pop artist Takashi Murakami, whose 'Japonisme Reconsidered' series, also included here, reproduces Hiroshige's whole series on canvas, demonstrates just how much you can lose from medium to medium. In ink on paper, the careful narrowness of Hiroshige’s vistas creates a sense of magical remove; in Murakami’s acrylic and gold leaf, the same views become cloying and claustrophobic, even on a canvas 11 feet tall."
(i) Takashi MURAKAMI 村上 隆 (1962- )
(ii) J Scott Orr, How Murakami Hurried Out 120 Works for Brooklyn Museum Show. Ocula, Apr 12, 2024
https://ocula.com/magazine/art-n ... -for-brooklyn-show/
(Utagawa Hiroshige, Fukagawa Susaki Jūmantsubo [深川州崎十万坪], no. 107 from '100 Famous Views of Edo', 5th month of 1857 [actually: 安政4年（1857）閏5月].
(A) 深川
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/深川
(may refer to 東京都江東区深川(町))

Click it and th enew Web page avers, "慶長の初期 (1596～1614)、江戸がまだ町造りを始めたばかりの頃、摂津国（現：大阪府）から移住してきた深川八郎右衛門が小名木川北岸一帯の開拓を行い、その深川の苗字を村名とし、これがこの地一帯を呼ぶ名称となった。"

my abbreviated translation: When Edo was at the earliest stage of development (1596～1614) Fukagawa Hachirō-emon 深川八郎右衛門 moved from Osaka to break new ground 開拓, and lent his ([family] name a village and then the area.
(B) 州崎 すさき  susaki is "sandspit."
https://www.nihongomaster.com/ja ... /word/31716/susaki-州崎-すさき
Jim Breen's online Japanese-English dictionary says exactly the same thing.

English dictionary:
* cloying (adj; Did You Know?)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cloying
   ^ touch hole
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_hole
   (section 1 Spiking the guns)
* sandspit
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sandspit
(iii) Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, undated
https://www.fujibi.or.jp/collection/artwork/10184/
("「十万坪」は現在の江東区千田および千石周辺に当たる。享保8年（1723）から行われた干潟の埋め立てにより10万坪に及ぶ新田が開発されたため、「十万坪」と呼ばれていた。 * * * 天保年間に出版された広重の『東都名所』や『江都名所』などのシリーズでは、そのような潮干狩りや初日の出 [both defined in Note (e)(iv)]、洲崎弁天社の賑わいの様子が描かれている。 広重は『名所江戸百景』で再び同地を描くにあたり、それまで描いた題材から大きく趣向を変えて、海側からの鳥瞰（ちょうかん）という大胆な構図によって、湿地帯の荒涼とした冬の雪景として描き出した。しんしんと雪が舞う浜辺に静けさが漂う一方で、大きく翼を広げた鷲が上空から獲物を狙う様子は躍動感に溢れており、この静と動の対比が本作の大きな魅力となっている。遠方には、富士山と並ぶ関東の霊峰、筑波山が静かに下界を見下ろしている")

my rough translation: 十万坪 corresponds to presently [東京都] 江東区千田 and 千石 [names of two 町; 江東区, so named due to its location east of 隅田川 (and west of 荒川)]. [Here] starting in 1723, tidal flat 干潟 was reclaimed 埋め立て, to develop into new tilling land 新田. [広重 made many series of 東都名所 (more than a handful of them, series; all with the same title, in various years] Hiroshige depicted same place [十万坪] again in 名所江戸百景, but in vastly different taste 趣向: bird's-eye view 鳥瞰 from above the sea with bold sketch of forlorn [or bleak] 荒涼 wetland 湿地帯 and of winter snowscape. On the one hand is stillness of heavy snow on 浜辺, on the other is dynamism of an eagle with its wings spread wide as it hunts its prey from above. This contrast is the major attraction of this art. In the distance is 筑波山 (rivaling 並ぶ Mt Fuji as another sacred mountain) that quietly overlooks 下界.
(A) Tokyo Fuji Art Museum 東京富士美術館 (1983- ) is near 創価大学. Both the museum and the university belong to Sōka Gakkai 創価学会 (meaning: "Value-Creation Society"), a Buddhist movement in Japan since 1930. The bi in the museum URL is Chinese pronunciation of kanji 美.
(B) 1坪 = 3.31 square meters. 十万坪 = 331,000 square meters or 33 hectares.
(C) Utagawa Hiroshige-江都名所 洲崎しほ干狩https://commons.wikimedia.org/wi ... -Utagawa_Hiroshige-江都名所_洲崎しほ干狩-crd.jpg

The title in this Wiki page is wrong: should be shi-o しお (represented by kanji 潮), not shi-ho しほ.

The NDL in the URL refers to National Diet Library 国立国会図書館 (of Japan; 1948- ), from which this image of ukiyo-e was scanned.
(D) Utagawa Hiroshige, 東都名所 洲崎雪之初日. New Year's Sunrise after Snow at Susaki (ca. 1831). The Met, undated.
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45295
(E) A casual look will tell you the mountain in this Ukiyo-e is NOT Mt Fuji, but Mount Tsukuba 筑波山.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tsukuba
(iv) Jim Breen's Japanese-English dictionary:
* hi-gata 干潟 【ひがた】 (n): "tidal flat; tideland"
* ume-tate 埋め立て 【うめたて】 (n): "land reclamation"
* shio-hi-gari 潮干狩り 【しおひがり】 (n): "clam digging (at low tide)"
   ^ shio-hi 潮干 【しおひ】 (n): "low tide"
* hatsuhi-no-de 初日の出 【はつひので】 (n): "first sunrise of the year; sunrise on New Year's Day"
* narabu 並ぶ [p(rincipal)]; 列ぶ【ならぶ】 (v): "(1) to line up; to stand in a line; (2) to rival; to match; to equal"
* reihō 霊峰 【れいほう】 (n): "sacred mountain"
* ge-ka-i 下界 【げかい】 (n): "{Buddh} this world (as opposed to heaven)"
* sekku 節句 【せっく】 (n): "seasonal festival"
* suidō 水道 【すいどう】 (n): "waterway"
   ^ 水道 differs from
   gesuidō 下水道 【げすいどう (n): "sewer system"



(f) "No 48, 'Suido Bridge and Surugadai.' It shows a large, vibrantly colored, carp-shaped windsock of the type that Japanese typically fly outdoors on Boys' Day, May 5 (also known as Children's Day). Crossing under its tail is the Kanda River, and behind it, after a broad green bank, the villages of Surugadai and Misaki extend back toward Mount Fuji. The narrow pole from which it hangs divides the picture asymmetrically in two; two smaller carp swim through the air on the river's other side. A few tiny pedestrians carry umbrellas."
(i) Suidō Bridge and Surugadai  水道橋駿河台

水道 (as well as 節句) is defined in Note (e)(iv).

Suidō Bridge  水道橋 (神田川)
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/水道橋_(神田川)
("この橋名は、本橋の下流に神田上水懸樋があったことに由来する")

A picture is worth a thousand words. Look at the ukiyo-e in this Wiki page, whose caption reads: "『江戸図屏風』に描かれた江戸時代初期の水道橋。橋の下側に描かれているのが懸樋[。]"   Under the bridge and above river water, one can see a conduit with rectangular cross-section to transport water. 懸樋 is water conduit suspended in air inside bamboo or wood (in Japan, whereas in stone channel in Roman empire). (In contrast, water conduit buried underground with 石で作られた水道管 is called 石樋.)
(ii) Children's Day (Japan)  こどもの日
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Day_(Japan)
(for "both male and female children since 1948 * * * The day was originally called Tango no sekku (端午の節句) [celebrated for boys only, on May 5th of lunisolar calendar but since Meiji Restoration on May 5th of Gregorian calendar] * * * The custom of decorating koinobori (carp streamers [koi is Japanese pronunciation of kanji 鯉]) on Children's Day originated in the Edo period (1603–1867)" )

The こどもis represented by kanji 子供.
(iii) "Crossing under its tail is the Kanda River, and behind it, after a broad green bank, the villages of Surugadai and Misaki"
(A) Kanda River 神田川  (Kanji 神 has Chinese pronunciations shin or jin, and Japanese pronunciations kami (or occasionally kan- )

Starting in 1620, downstream of the old 神田川 was diverted, and it currently empties into 隅田川 near 両国橋.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/隅田川
(B) Surugadai village is now 東京都千代田区 神田駿河台町. (The "suru" as pronunciation of kanji 駿 appears in (plac) name only.)

Above, at Note (d)(ii)(B) I observed, "TOKUGAWA Ieyasu 徳川 家康 unified Japan, received the title shōgun 将軍 in 1603 from the emperor." Nominally he retired in 1605 and went to Suruga-no-kuni 駿河国 (present-day 静岡県) but actually dominated national politics from there. 駿河台 is a tableland 台地 with elevation 標高 17 meters. ja.wikipedia.org for 駿河台.

駿河国 -- so named because 富士川 runs through the sharp drop from steep mountains to the ocean like a horse 駿馬の如き. ja.wikipedia.org for 駿河国.
(C) Misaki village (then) 三崎村 and now 東京都千代田区 神田三崎町 (町 with the long name of 神田三崎)



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If you want to understand the visual language of Instagram, cinema, Tintin comics, modern poster design or Vincent van Gogh, the quickest thing to do would be to ride out to the Brooklyn Museum, where, for the first time in 24 years, you can see every one of Utagawa Hiroshige’s “100 Famous Views of Edo” (the city now known as Tokyo).

If you’re unfamiliar with this monument of mid-19th-century Japanese woodblock art that, like Katsushika Hokusai’s “36 Views of Mount Fuji,” profoundly influenced Western modernism and its descendants, by all means start at the beginning: How did the museum get its hands on such pristine copies? And what made Hiroshige (1797-1858) and his workshop so innovative?

An entire set of Hiroshige’s colorful depictions of his native city was bound into a book, donated to the Brooklyn Museum and left in storage for 40 years before being unbound in the 1970s. Because it was probably intended especially for such a collection, this particular set was also a kind of luxury edition, made with extra care and details, such as the use of reflective metallic dust, that ordinary consumer-grade prints, for all their intricacy, didn’t have.

The exhibition begins by comparing a contemporaneous but more old-fashioned print of Kameido Tenjin Shrine with Hiroshige’s view of the same locale (No. 65), and you can see at once what an aesthetic leap was taking place in Japan in the 1850s. The old-fashioned one, by Kitao Shigemasa, is dry and comprehensive, like an illustrated map; Hiroshige’s, with its unusual cropping, its emphasis on the shrine’s famous wisteria flowers and moon bridge to the exclusion of its actual buildings, is at once thrillingly visceral and shimmering with self-awareness, less a depiction of the shrine’s most notable features than a distillation of their visual and emotional impact.

In the main room, you’ll find 118 prints on the walls, either because “100 views” wasn’t meant literally or because brisk sales persuaded Hiroshige to issue extras. They’re arranged in seasonal order, following an index published after the artist’s death, and their numbered labels are wonderfully concrete and informative. But you don’t have to follow the order.

Every print offers a self-sufficient world, like a stage-set, and almost every one boasts some brilliant little aesthetic device that appears nowhere else. Notice the way Hiroshige’s carvers loaded branches with snow by leaving unprinted space around them, in “Bikuni Bridge in the Snow” (No. 114), and how the large sign advertising “mountain whale,” or wild boar meat, upsets your sense of where the picture ends. (Is it writing, or a drawing of writing?) Clock the razor-thin lines of rain that shoot across “Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake” (No. 58) and the wild composition of “Plum Estate, Kameido” (No. 30): Van Gogh copied them both.

It’s the prints’ flat economy, as well as their directorial focus on salient details, that live on in 20th-century Western comics and movies. Their tone is harder to keep hold of. Photographer Alex Falcón Bueno, whose recent views of Hiroshige’s neighborhoods today form a pleasurable epilogue to the show, comes close, but pop artist Takashi Murakami, whose “Japonisme Reconsidered” series, also included here, reproduces Hiroshige’s whole series on canvas, demonstrates just how much you can lose from medium to medium. In ink on paper, the careful narrowness of Hiroshige’s vistas creates a sense of magical remove; in Murakami’s acrylic and gold leaf, the same views become cloying and claustrophobic, even on a canvas 11 feet tall.

All that said, though, you can also just cut right to the heart of the matter by going directly to No. 48, “Suido Bridge and Surugadai.” It shows a large, vibrantly colored, carp-shaped windsock of the type that Japanese typically fly outdoors on Boys’ Day, May 5 (also known as Children’s Day). Crossing under its tail is the Kanda River, and behind it, after a broad green bank, the villages of Surugadai and Misaki extend back toward Mount Fuji. The narrow pole from which it hangs divides the picture asymmetrically in two; two smaller carp swim through the air on the river’s other side. A few tiny pedestrians carry umbrellas.

Depending where in the picture you look, you’ll find realism and perspective treated very differently. The plain beneath the village has depth, because it has to; Fuji is flat, because it’s an icon, and because flatness better catches its mystery. The people are simplified, the river is abstracted and the carp looks more like a real flying fish than any actual windsock could — but also, still, like a windsock. Holding it all together gracefully is Hiroshige’s serene comfort with the artifice of his medium.