Station No. 1, Snowy Dawn at Nihonbashi

Eisen deftly captures the bustling atmosphere of a cold winter morning on Nihonbashi Bridge in the center of Edo. Two redcheeked women stop to converse as the sun rises over the river, which is lined on both sides with a succession of snow-covered warehouses. Stripped almost bare to heave a towering cart across the bridge, two laborers provide a striking contrast to travelers—a monk and samurai among others—who are bundled against the frigid air. At the bridge’s base, the morning fish market is in full swing: a porter hefts a basket of horse mackerel to his shoulder, another man balances two giant tuna on a pole, and a clerk peers at his ledge amid baskets piled with flounder and shellfish.
Eisen and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) both contributed prints to the Kisokaidō series, which documents sights along the northern route between Edo and Kyoto. (Eisen made twenty-four prints, Hiroshige the other forty-six, for a complete set of seventy.) It was released on the heels of Hiroshige’s success with the 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō Road series, also published by Takenouchi Magohachi (Hōeidō). Takenouchi took the opportunity to advertise his role by putting his name and address on the umbrella at the center of this opening print of the Kisokaidō series (see detail below).