When Meguro was a Green Hill 2 views by Hiroshige

#Hiroshige seems to have been like many #Edo residents fond of visiting #Meguro

#japaneseprints #landscapeprints

When Meguro was a Green Hill 

The building in the lower right corner is a teahouse. Nowadays I've read Meguro is more noted for coffee and laneways with small shops. 

Another view by Hiroshige. The river is still there though partly canalized and smaller. 

How things have changed over the years and centuries! 

There are other prints by Hiroshige and others on this theme. These seem to be 2 of the best?

Ochanomizu Two

#ochanomizu #edo #tokyo #japaneseprints

Once upon a time only a century and a few more decades Ochanomizu had NO tall buildings!

This is Hiroshige's view of it. Mid 19th century

A mid 20th century view.

How things have changed!

Ochanomizu One

#ochanomizu #japaneseprints #edo #tokyo #history #megalopolis #ukiyo-e

Thanks to the Japanese love of landscapes and the residents of Tokugawa Edo loving scenes of their own city we have many surviving images of Tokyo from the 18th century to this one as prints!

One locale loved by printmakers was #Ochanomizu in #Tokyo.

Your first thought may be

"Ochanomizu a railway station and maybe if you've been on a train going through that station you have briefly noticed the narrow stream below curving between high banks and taller buildings above.

This is Ochanomizu in late autumn / early winter as late as the middle 19th century as depicted by Kuniyoshi
.

Cold wet empty and obscured by drizzle

Kuniyoshi has probably removed some of the trees known to have grown along the banks and the footpaths and roads are hidden by the rain. The total absence of any human shows us what a dreary day it was and Kuniyoshi seems to have picked this subject to show off the skills of himself and his colorist in creating an effect very similar to an actual watercolor on paper or silk.

Next post more images of Ochanomizu in the past!

Sute-jo's Higurashi Haiku

#sute-jo #higurashi #haiku

SUTE-JO'S HIGURASHI HAIKU

This poetess become a nun in later life and was part of the Basho lineage of Haiku writers

Higurashi ya!

Sutete oite mo 

Kururu hi wa 

Oh higurashi 

Abandoned Left behind 

By the sun 

I have read but not experienced Higurashi singing mainly in the evening but sometimes in the morning or if the weather suddenly becomes overcast and cloudy. I have taken some liberties with the string of verbs in the middle shifting to the passive in English.

Sutete may be a pun on' Sute-jos name "abandoned wife"  

Oite is a shortened form of okite used when it was combined with other verbs?

Kururu is not kuru - come but an older literary form of kureru ! 

The last line could also be translated as darkens day 

This is the sort of haiku in which the Japanese is so compact and dense you have to make the lines longer or shorter in English. The closest I can get to the assonance of suteTE oiTE is aBandoned left Behind By ...