Aoi Slope Outside Toranomon Gate

During the Edo period, it was customary for artisans' apprentices to visit temples and shrines at the coldest season to pray for improvement of their skills. They purified their nude bodies in cold water before approaching the sacred buildings. Here, on a cold Edo night, two nearly naked men have just finished their temple visit. Chilly but high-spirited, these artisans make their way home with hand-held lanterns. One of the two food vendors has packed up and is also going home.
The artist Hiroshige, a native of Edo (present-day Tokyo) was thoroughly acquainted with the capital. Portraying any city in ahundred different ways seems a challenging endeavor for an artist, but it was not so for Hiroshige. The series gained such popularity and public demand that he extended it to 118 prints. (His student Hiroshige II added three prints to the series after Hiroshige's death.) This Aoi Slope print is the 113th of this series.