Author: Utagawa Hiroshige II (二代目広重).
Subject: Saruwaka chō (猿若町).
Series: Forty eight famous views of Edo (Edo meisho yonjū hakkei, 江戸名所四十八景).
Number: 20/48.
Genre: meisho-e (名所絵), fūkei-ga (風景画).
Size: medium (chūban, 中判).
Publisher: Tsutaya Kichizō (蔦屋吉蔵), here as Tsutakichihan (蔦吉版).
Period: 1860 ~ 1861.
Trimmed: no
Backed: no
Code: UGHII01007

Condition: color is good and clear with no heavy sign of fading. Few stains and wrinkles on the front and back corners, but any holes nor remarkable sign of damage. The print is enjoyable in its integrity.

Saruwakachō was settled in the Taitō district (台東区) of Edo, precisely in Asakusa (浅草), and since 1841, as a consequence of the Tenpō (天保) reforms, became the licensed Kabuki theatre district of the city.
The name of the area seems to recall the one of Saruwaka (Nakamura) Kanzaburō (猿若中村勘三郎) who is said to have been the founder of Edo-style Kabuki.
From the beginning of the Edo era onward kabuki , puppetry and other performances related theaters which were previously located in Sakaichō (Nakamura Theater), Fukiyachō (Ichimura Theater) and Kobikichō (Morita Theater) were ordered to be moved here.
The street was lively and colorful, filled with billboards, placards and flags advertising plays, actors and tea houses which offered food, rest and guidence to the visitors.
The district kept flourishing until the beginning of the Meiji Era, when the theaters start being relocated one after another letting the area, inevitably, slowly disappearing.