c. 1850

Fish Market

Although the famous printmaker Katsushika Hokusai is not known to have painted screens, the influence of his sketches (manga) is clearly evident in the lively cast of characters depicted in this work. This scene is most likely the original Edo (modern Tokyo) city market located near Nihonbashi bridge, where the Sumida River merges into Tokyo Bay. The market was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1923 and rebuilt at the present site at Tsukiji.