During June and July of 1876, Emperor Meiji traveled to survey the Tōhoku (northeast) region and Hokkaido. On his way there, he passed through Gamō Village (present-day Koshigaya City, Saitama Prefecture), where he saw around 200 men and women planting rice and singing a song about hope for a fruitful year. This is the scene depicted in this nishiki-e, a multicolored woodblock print. This print was created based off news reports about the emperor's travels. The artist is recorded as Endō Tokubei, known more popularly as Utagawa Hiroshige III.