Enjoying a Cool Evening on the Sumida River

The pleasures of a summer evening near the Ryogoku Bridge are recorded in this informal painting. The area around the Ryogoku Bridge was a popular site for entertainment in the thriving metropolis of Edo (modern Tokyo). In this view, which faces northward, the pagoda of the Asakusa Kannon temple (Sensoji) can be seen at left beyond the bridge on the west bank of the Sumida River. The artist has rendered the setting realistically, as if capturing an actual moment, while focusing in the foreground on the festive entertainment aboard pleasure boats. The painter Aoki Hodo was trained by Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783–1856), a leading artist of the Nanga school, whose adherents specialized in Chinese styles and themes. Here Hodo presents a scene of contemporary Japanese urban life with fluent virtuosity.