Evening Snow at Kinryūzan Temple; Autumn Moon at Atago Hill, from the series Eight Views of Edo

The city of Edo, as Japan’s major producer of woodblock printing, naturally developed its own “Eight Views” series featuring local landmarks. This unusual double print shows two. Kinryūzan, on the right, was Edo’s oldest Buddhist temple. Atago Hill, shown in the moonlight, was named after a sacred hill site in Kyoto. Both Atago Hills have shrines for the Shinto deity who protected against fires.

Though created for general audiences, the print incorporates other elements from Chinese elite artistic traditions in addition to the Eight Views theme. The scenes are presented in shapes that resemble Chinese fans, a popular format for paintings. Additionally, the print’s white text against dark backgrounds mimics the appearance of Chinese ink rubbings, a technique where text or images are transferred from stone carvings onto paper.