The Eastern Capital

(Tôto, 東都)

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

c. 1833

Tokyo (then called Edo) was the Eastern Capital, where the shogun lived. The emperor lived in Kyoto, the Western Capital. This series of prints is listed as number 7 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The prints are each about 10 by 14 inches (25 by 36 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

Title: Ebb tide at Shubi no Matsu (東都首尾の松之図, Tôto Shubi no matsu no zu)

Schaap: 18.1

Another state of the above design

Title: View of heavy rain on the Ommaya Embankment of the Sumida River in the Eastern Capital (東都御厩川岸之図, Tôto Ommayagashi no zu)

Schaap: 18.2

This is an early twentieth century reproduction published by Hashaguchi Goyo whose seal appears in the left lower corner

This is another reproduction of the same print from the 1930s (Robert O. Muller Collection)

Title: Two men charring the bottom of a boat at Mitsumata on the Sumida River with Eitai Bridge in the background (東都三つ股の図, Tôto Mitsumata no zu)

Schaap: 18.3

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this simplified edition of the above design.

Title: View of [catching eels in] the Miyato River in the Eastern Capital (東都 宮戸川之圖, Tôto Miyatogawa no zu)

Schaap: 18.4

This is a drawing for the above print.

This is a reproduction of the above print made in the 1890s.

Title: Viewing the statue of Jizô-Busatsu at Hashiba in the Eastern Capital (東都橋場之図, Tôto Hashiba no zu)

Schaap: 18.5

Title: View of Mount Asama from Usui Pass [between present-day Nagano and Gunma Prefectures] (Usuitôge yori asamayama o miru zu)

Schaap: unlisted

NOTE: This print is similar to the above series, but the title in the large cartouche does not start with Tôto (Eastern Capital), and it is not a scene along the Sumida River.

This is another state of the above print with smoke rising from the summit of the mountain.

Image courtesy of John Rose and Auction Ukiyo-e Ltd.

Another state with the blue sky reaching the horizon on the left

Another state curtesy of Robert Pryor

“Schaap” refers to listing in Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi by Robert Schaap (Hotei Publishing, Leiden, 1998).

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