Cheerful faces are unusual in Hiroshige's series, which is dominated by faces either too small to be seen, averted, or set with a stern demeanor. Not so with these visitors from the countryside, who have just completed a visit to the Zōjōji Temple at the upper left, one of Edo's great sights, the burial site of the Tokugawa shoguns and a training center for Buddhist priests. Behind them is a group of novice monks, who would beg in the streets in the afternoons; their tightly ordered ranks and matched attire contrast with the laughing disarray of the rural visitors. The tourists will certainly stop next at Shiba Shinmei Shrine, the buildings to the right with the distinctive protruding roof beams and ridgepole logs.
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