Utagawa Toyoharu, founder of the Utagawa school, specialized in group scenes and perspectival landscapes, the latter making him the most significant precursor to revolutionary landscape artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). In this uki-e, or perspective print, the artist combines these skills, depicting a cool evening on the Sumida River near Edo’s Ryōgoku Bridge. The fireworks in the sky signify the opening of the summer boating season, an annual tradition that continues today. In the foreground, pleasure boats filled with onlookers fade into the horizon at left, while a small village converges at a point at right, much like a two-point perspective drawing. The olive-yellow sky would have once been blue; made with the delicate pigment dayflower, it has faded over time due to light exposure and moisture.