Ushijima (Musashi-ya)

Utagawa Hiroshige’s Collection of Famous Restaurants in Edo consists of thirty horizontal woodblock prints depicting renowned dining establishments of Edo. This scene from the restaurant and bathhouse Musashiya is among the compositions recreating interior settings. Possibly having just finished bathing, guests relax in yukata (light-cotton robes) within a tatami room that opens onto a spacious garden with a pond. Musashiya is characterized here not only by its fare of freshwater fish, served in lacquer and blue-and-white porcelain dishes, but also by its serene, open setting: an elegant contrast to the dense, crowded cityscape of Edo proper.