Page 297 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

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154 • In this, one of several famous snow lumber needed for repairing and
Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858) scenes, Hiroshige offers an evocative rebuilding the world's largest wooden
Fukagawa Lumberyards, from view within the lumberyards of the city. In the wake of a fire in 1641 that
One Hundred Famous Views of Edo Fukagawa area. It is a compositional destroyed not only houses but the
tour de force in the intricate balance lumber supply itself, the shogunate
1856
of interlocked diagonals and vertical ordered the yards moved to the
Color woodblock print Fukagawa district east of the Sumida
7
3
34 x 22.5 (i3 /s x 8 /s) accents. The deep blue of the water River. The lumber was stored prim-
Brooklyn Museum of Art Collection establishes a zigzag axis, which is
echoed by the leaning poles, the near arily in ponds, with connecting canals,
banks, the descending placement over total area of some one hundred
of two sparrows, loggers, and puppies. acres. For transportation to and
The umbrella at the bottom bears from the yards, lumber was lashed
publisher Uoei's fish mark. into rafts and poled by skilled loggers
(kaiuanami) — as seen here. HDS
The Fukagawa lumberyards were of
great economic importance to Edo as
a storage site for the huge supply of