Ansei Edo earthquake

Description:: Handscroll painting of the Ansei Edo Earthquake, painted in ink and colours on paper by an unknown artist (possibly of the Kobikicho Kano school) in Japan, between 1856 and 1857. The scroll depicts the Ansei Edo Earthquake, which struck the city of Edo (modern Tokyo) in 1855, the second year of the Ansei era. As well as showing the devastation wrought upon the city, the scroll also depicts Edo’s reconstruction, culminating in a view of the shogun’s palace (Edo Castle) against the backdrop of Mt Fuji. The painting is almost identical to one in the Shimazu Family Collection, University of Tokyo. Recent scholarship connects the two scrolls to the wedding between Atsuhime (Tenshōin) and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Atsuhime was adoptive daughter of Shimazu Nariakira, and was also adopted by the higher-ranking Konoe Tadahiro around the time of her marriage. It is suggested that the scrolls, which include cranes flying over Edo Castle, were created to commemorate the wedding of Atsuhime to Tokugawa Iesada in 1856. Bought by Chester Beatty in Japan in 1917, this scroll previously belonged to the Konoe family.

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