Kamata no umezono (Plum garden, Kamata)

Hiroshige creates an unusually dynamic composition in Plum Garden at Kamata, using the partially cropped palanquin in the foreground to direct the viewer’s eye toward the plum trees and stone steles beyond. The obstruction of the view produces what Henry D. Smith II has described as a “cinematic” effect, infusing the image with a sense of movement and time. More intriguingly, the steles may reveal Hiroshige’s personal connection to the garden. One bears a poem by Kyokado Magao (1753-1829), leader of the influential Yomogawa kyoka poetry circle, with which Hiroshige maintained close connections throughout his career. As the Kamata Plum Garden was not an established meisho (famous view) and rarely appeared in other commercial prints, its inclusion in this series may therefore reflect not only the picturesque appeal of the garden, but also a more personal association with the location.