Tokyo Asakusa-Temple and Tower of Ryounkaku in the Park and Azumabashi Bridge in the Distance View

One characteristic of the Meiji Kaika-e is the way in which the depiction of figures confuses and comingles elements of western culture washed ashore with the enlightenment and traditional culture which lingers on from the Edo Period. Asakusa, which is both the gateway to Sensoji Temple and the Shin-Yoshiwara red-light district, the greatest pleasure quarters of Edo, flourished as a town of both pilgrimage and pleasure as the Meiji era gathered steam. On the right, the Kannon-do Hall of Sensoji Temple constructed in the Nara Period is depicted, while on the left, we find the modern high-rise Ryounkaku skyscraper, popularly referred to as the "Asakusa Twelve-stories", and a building symbolic of the new and old cultures. The vivid red used throughout was a chemical dye (aniline) made overseas, which would be imported cheaply as the Meiji era got underway, and used in many Kaika-e. Red was the color which symbolized the new era of “Meiji.”