Thirty-six Views of the Pride of Edo, Listening to the Insects at Dōkan-yama (Edo Jiman Sanjūrokkyō Dōkan-yama Mushi-kiki)
Painted by Utagawa Toyokuni III and Utagawa Hiroshige II 1864 (Genji 1) Tokyo Shiryō Collection 0521-C1

Dōkan-yama (around the present day 4-chome Nishinippori, Arakawa Ward) was in the Edo period a popular place for insect savants who liked to hear the noise insects make ('mushi-kiki') and attracted many more people as a cool evening spot.


Dōkan-yama was not the only place popular for mushi-kiki; there was also Sumida River's east bank as well as Ōji and Asukayama. The type of chirping insects would vary depending on the location and so people seem to have differenciated these places according to their mood, for example, when they wished to hear crickets they would go to Asukayama and would go to Dōkan-yama when they fancied hearing the sound of pine crickets. Such was peoples' interest at the time in the sound of insects and as there were also people who wanted to keep insects as pets in their homes, there were insect sellers who walked the streets carrying their wares in bamboo caskets.
During the Edo period, the Dōkan-yama is said to have offered views such as mountain ranges of Tsukuba and Nikko and Shimousa-no-kuni kōnodai. Aside from this illustration, there are many more remaining works depicting 'mushi-kiki' in Dōkan-yama.

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