Online Exhibition
Edo in Colour
Prints from Japan’s Metropolis
Selling the city
The city of Edo (modern Tokyo) was established in 1590 as powerbase of the Tokugawa shogunate, Japan’s de facto rulers during the Edo period (c. 1603–1868). By 1720, Edo’s population had swelled to more than one million, making it the largest city in the world. Print powered this flourishing metropolis. As artists, publishers and printmakers collaborated to publish single-sheet prints and printed books of the highest order, discerning audiences consumed this affordable art. With the city standing as muse, maker and market combined, print sold Edo’s image as it shaped its identity.
Newly published perspective view of Shinmei shrine, Shiba
Tamagawa Shūchō
Japan, 1789–1801
CBL J 2657