One Hundred Famous Views of Edo No.119Evening view of rain in paulownia field at Akasaka by Hiroshige Jr.

This bird’s-eye view of a paulownia field (known in Japanese as “kiribata”) in the evening rain at Akasaka was drawn by Hiroshige II. This print is considered superior to the one drawn by Hiroshige and is included in this series by the publisher. The elder’s print shows a scene of Tameike pond at the foot of the hill where Sanno Shrine stood, but this one shows the northwestern edge of the pond. In addition, it shows a scene of heavy spring rain falling from a darkening sky.
To reflect the feeling of heavily falling rain, the two slender warriors in long raincoats in the foreground are depicted walking slowly in geta wooden clogs and holding janome-gasa, an oiled-paper umbrella with a bull’s-eye design. The warriors are followed by their respective servants wearing reed hats and short red raincoats made of oiled red paper. Behind them are paulownia trees planted on the western bank of the pond. Beyond and between the trees one can see the northwestern edge of the pond.
People walking on the slope ascending from left to right and leading to Akasaka Gomon (gate), one of the entrances to Edo castle, are depicted in black, and this makes their class, rank and sex not clearly discernible. The woods in the far distance are painted grey, as are those standing on the grounds of the mansions of the very important lords for the Tokugawa shogun, which were built inside the outer moat of Edo castle. Those lords belonged to the Kii and Owari families, which were the two of the three clans of the Tokugawa house and the Ii family (a lord in hereditary vassalage to the Tokugawas).