Sumida River, a Famous River of the Eastern Capital, from the series “Three Moonlit Views”

This unmounted fan print (uchiwa-e) depicts a view of the Sumida River, the most important waterway traversing the city of Edo. Edo was known as the eastern capital of Japan to distinguish it from Kyōto, the imperial capital located further west. Along the river, tall pine trees line the foreground embankments, while low wooden buildings appear on the opposite shore. By virtue of their materials and function, fan prints are rare. They were mounted on handheld bamboo fans that easily wore out and were discarded when damaged beyond repair. This fan print, one of three designs from the series Three Moonlit Views (Gekka sankei), is extremely scarce; no other impression is known to have survived in any collection within Japan or internationally.