Ukiyoe Reproductions - landscapes

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Ando Hiroshige Cotton-goods Lane, Odenmacho (Odenma-cho momendana) Price A$110 (unframed)) Status Secondhand reproduction Condition Excellent Size 268mm x 402mm Availability For sale

It is evening as we look past the pillar of the gate that demarcates the entry to this sector of the cotton-goods merchants' quarter in Odenma-cho, popularly known as "Momendana" ("cotton shops"), in the heart of the city. The gate is still open, so it must be before the fourth hour of the evening (about 10:15 P.M. at this time of the year), and Hiroshige has kindly shortened one of the cloth noren so that we can peer inside a shop where two merchants sit among piles of cotton fabric, doubtless tallying up the day's profits. As we look to the left, our eye is caught by the two geisha in matched ensemble, returning from an evening of providing samisen entertainment, perhaps at a wealthy wholesaler's home nearby. There is a disarray in their dress, a sense of tipsiness to their movement, hinting of the drink they will have shared with their customers. Noticeable only on close inspection, an accompanying servant follows just behind, the arch of her eyebrow conveying a sense of concern-perhaps over her mistresses' condition. The pristinely uniform architecture we see here was a peculiar feature of Odenma-cho and unusual for wealthy Edo merchants, since it enclosed a row of several different shops under a single roof-a house form normally reserved for back-street tenements. In this print, the alternating names and crests identify three separate establishments: the Tabataya to the right, Masuya in the center, and Shimaya in the distance. As a subtle demarcation of the boundaries between each, low projecting ridges known as udatsu run down the roof-face: the two that divide the three shops in this print can be seen clearly, although they are easy to confuse with the boxlike structure (ha-komune) running along the entire ridge-another mark of distinction to which the cotton merchants were specially entitled by the authorities. Atop the ridge-box itself stand enclosures for buckets to trap rain water, to be used in case of fire.

Smith H.D and Poster A.G., Hiroshige, One Hundred Famous views of Edo., George Braziller Inc., 1st edn., 4th reprint , 1986