Hiroshige is one of the most famous Japanese landscape designers of the
XIXème century. First of all fascinated by the portraits
of women and actors of kabuki, its passion go out to the landscape
afterwards (ukiyo-e). Its first series of prints go back to
1831. They are devoted to the old capital of the kingdom, named
then Edo. Hiroshige is contemporary different large Japanese Master,
Hokusai, which publish famous 36 sights of Mount-Fuji the same
year. Hiroshige will be success only later, thanks to prints
reporting a voyage accomplished between Edo and Kyoto. These
prestigious cities remain the source of essential inspiration of the
Master throughout his existence. This exposure clarifies the
series of prints entitled "Hundred famous sights of Edo", carried out
at the sixty years age by the illustrator. This testimony pays to
us at the time in a precise way the daily newspaper of this capital of
a million inhabitants. We can observe the practices of the
inhabitants there as well as the favorite places, the temple of Asukusa
or the districts of the pleasures of Yoshiwara. Edo is still a
human and ecological city, just before the industrial revolution and
its urban rationnality do not transform it into mégapole during
the era Meiji (1868-1912).
