Kidai shōran
It was discovered in 1999 in the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin,[1] and is an important resource for understanding the street-life of Edo during the reign of Tokugawa Ienari, the 11th shōgun, who controlled the government for 50 years.
The exterior noren curtains all have trademarks and trading names inscribed in legible script and form an accurate list of shop operators of the time.
[5]: 8 The outside views of the various merchant machiya townhouses are detailed with attention given to the type of eaves on the building, and the variations in the earthen warehouses and their white plaster walls.
A number of famous shops appear in the scroll, including the dry goods store Echigoya,[6] which remains in operation today as Mitsukoshi.
This represents an Edo period practice of allowing senior employees to establish branches of the store under the same brand, and is the reason for Suhara-ya's wide network today.
Apart from the official stores, there are a number of unofficial guard houses responsible for fire-watch and safety which supplement their income with shop activities, often selling fire-fighting related products.
Apart from people out shopping, there are hawkers, fortune-tellers, news cryers, street salesmen, Buddhist pilgrims, priests seeking temple donations, a child on his way to school, and many others.
The Nihonbashi neighbourhood was completely destroyed in the great fire of fourth day of the third month of Bunka year 3, or 22 April 1806.
However, other observers note the sale of bonito and children swimming in the Nihonbashi River, and suggest the scroll does not describe a particular season.
[5]: 7 A second theory, held by the Japanese art historian Shūgō Asano [Wikidata], uses a process of elimination examining the style and era of creation to suggest the artist may be Katsukawa Shun'ei (1762–1819).
However, the incorrect later placement of gold leaf placenames on the scroll means that the commissioner or owner at the time was not a local of the area.
The scroll was donated to the museum as part of the Kuster Collection of Chinese art through a gift arranged by Manfred Bohms prior to 1995.
[5] The director of the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin, Willibald Veit[5]: 6 then arranged for Tadashi Kobayashi [Wikidata] of Gakushuin University to examine the scroll.
The scroll was displayed for the first time in central position at an exhibition to celebrate the opening of the new Japan Galleries of the Museum of Asian Art, Berlin.
The second occasion was at the Mitsui Memorial Museum from 7 January to 12 February 2006 in its inaugural exhibition, titled Nihonbashi Picture Scrolls.
In its catalogue, an article by Yūko Eriguchi (江里口友子) draws comparisons between Kidai shōran and an illustrated Chinese text, Wanshou shengdian [Wikidata] ("Grand Ceremony for the Imperial Birthday").
It is likely that either the commissioner or the artist of Kidai shōran had access to a copy of the Chinese text: for example, the image of a father taking his young child to his first day of school is identical in both works.
