Tokaido Shinagawa Gotenyama no Fuji (Fuji from Gotenyama at Shinagawa on the Tokaido)

Gotenyama is a plateau located in Kita-Shinagawa in present-day Tokyo. Depicted here is a buoyant scene of the annual hanami, or cherry blossom festival, a quintessentially Japanese tradition that celebrates the evanescent beauty of the blossoms that have long been considered a symbol for the ephemeral nature of life. Below the blooming cherry trees that dominate the composition is an animated crowd of men, women and children who are joyously attending the festival, while three samurai enjoy a picnic on the hilltop to the left. The short-lived delight of the floating world subtly contrasts with the timelessness of Mount Fuji in the distance.As a response to the Perry Expedition, the Tokugawa shogunate the ordered military officer Egawa Hidetatsu to construct an artificial island in 1853 as a shield from sea attack. Gotenyama was torn down to make way for the construction off the coast of Shinagawa, or Tokyo Bay. The island is called Odaiba, meaning forts, with most batteries removed in the 1960s. Since the 1990s, it has become an extremely popular spot for international tourists.