Just as the early influx of Western visitors in Yokohama consumed artists’ visual imaginations, so too did the rapid transformation of Tokyo’s cityscape. In his Thirty-Six Views of Modern Tokyo, Utagawa Hiroshige III, a talented pupil of Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), provides glimpses of the city during this period of change.

This print from the series describes a horse-drawn carriage. In 1871, permission was given for horse-drawn carriages to be used on some roads in Tokyo. At that time, these carriages were used by the wealthy classes, such as senior government officials and the nobility, but later on, horse-drawn passenger carriages were introduced as public transport and used for travel within Tokyo, and to neighboring areas. A horse-drawn tram, in which carriages were drawn over rails laid on the routes, started operations in 1882.