Ueno Park in 1858.

From the Brooklyn Museum Website:

This scene depicts the area known as Yamashita (”Below the Mountain”) in Ueno Park. The abstract band of pink and yellow represents the famous cherry blossoms of Kan’eiji Temple (”The Mountain”). The small shrine hidden in the woods is Gōjō Tenjin, and the adjacent restaurant is Iseya, which advertises a rice dish blended with pickled shiso, a minty herb. The procession of parasol-covered women in the lower left corner may be a group of ladies-in-waiting. Stopping to gaze at them is a group of commoners, somewhat awkwardly diminished in size.

They have a great thing there, where you can zoom in on the print to see the detail. Give it a shot. I just noticed as I published this blog entry, the prints are the same aspect ratio as modern cameras. I guess 2:3 is pretty common, but it’s still kind of neat.

Ueno park and the shopping district near it is one of my favourite places in Tokyo. When anyone came out for a visit, or I got new room-mates it was the first place I took them. All were suitably impressed. I have some photos of Ueno on Flickr.