One Ordinary Night at a Gate in Edo Japan, 1823 | Sleep History
TheSoftPast
89 views
A neighbourhood gate in Edo, on a night in the first month of 1823, with snow falling from dusk until morning. The man who keeps it lives in a hut beside it, sells roasted sweet potatoes at a fire outside, walks the ward twice with two pieces of wood, and lets through the few who ask.
Nothing happens in this one. That is the point of it. Second person, no music, no sudden sounds, told at the pace of an ordinary winter night so that you can fall asleep somewhere in the middle of it and not miss anything.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Before the night begins
4:13 Dusk — The Gate is Pushed To
21:07 Early Night — The Brazier and the Bar
37:04 Late Evening — Two Pieces of Wood in the Snow
53:31 Midnight — Someone Asks to Pass
1:09:58 The Small Hours — Ice in the Jar
1:25:59 Before Dawn — The Bar Comes Up
1:42:14 Lying down
WHAT THE SOURCES DO NOT SAY
The gate, the hut, the clappers, the trade in roasted sweet potatoes, the small door for those who ask to pass at night, the exemption for doctors and midwives, the watch-house across the crossing with its ladder and its alarm bell, the bell that strikes the hours with three strokes thrown away before the count: all of these are documented for the wards of Edo in this period.
These are not: the weather of that particular night, which is a decision and not a record; the exact words called out on the fire round, which no free source gives, and which is why this narration never quotes them; what a gate keeper was paid after the ward had collected from the houses; whether he slept, and how much; what the inside of his hut looked like; and his name, which he does not have here.
The year is a decision too. The trade in roasted sweet potatoes begins in Edo in the seventeen nineties, the illustrated sources that describe these huts and their goods are of the eighteen thirties and forties, and the chapter is set at a date where both hold.
IMAGES
The images are Japanese prints and drawings in the public domain, chosen for streets, snow, night and small interiors. Most of them are later than this night by some decades: no free Japanese image of a snowbound back street survives in quantity from the eighteen twenties. They are shown here as the nearest true picture of the place, not as a record of that year.
IMAGE CREDITS
All images are Japanese woodblock prints and drawings in the public domain, from the collections named below. Most are later than the night narrated here.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Kambara: Evening Snow — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1940.984 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Suruga Street, ca. 1836 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 37052 (Open Access)
Torii Kiyonaga, Evening Snow at Sangendo, 1776-80 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1965-339 (public domain)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Hakone Shrine in the Snow, 1880-82 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1988-286 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Evening Snow at Asuka Hill, ca. 1837-38 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1940.983 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Timber Yard at Fukagawa, 1856 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1968-299 (public domain)
Katsushika Hokusai, Bridge in the Snow, 1834-35 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.1149 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Nissaka, ca. 1848-50 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985.323 (CC0)
Mizuno Toshikata, Woman by a Lamp — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1997-98 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Seki, ca. 1848-49 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1930.186 (CC0)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Komoro River at Tennoji, 1880 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1988-282 (public domain)
Ohara Koson, Snow at Yanagibashi, 1927 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1980-13 (public domain)
Hasegawa Sadanobu, Night View of the Yamato Tea-house — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 55413 (Open Access)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Moon at Shinagawa, 1884 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1983-102 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, The Moon-Viewing Promontory, 1857 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985.320 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Snow at the Gion Shrine — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.966 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Tsukudajima from Eitai Bridge, 1858 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1992.73 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Snow on the Sumida River, 1833-38 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1956-771 (public domain)
Kitagawa Utamaro, The Banks of the Sumida in Snow, 1790 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1960-13-5 (public domain)
Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei), Snow on the Ayase River, 1915 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-2016-66-8 (public domain)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, Snow at Ochanomizu, 1880 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1988-283 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Kanazawa at Night, 1857 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.967 (CC0)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Taro Inari Shrine at Asakusa, 1877-82 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1988-279 (public domain)
Katsushika Hokusai, The Sumida River in Snow, 1831-35 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1973-221 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Meguro Drum Bridge, 1857 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.971 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Kano, ca. 1835-37 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985.321 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Yokkaichi, ca. 1833-34 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1948.307 (CC0)
1 Comments
One Ordinary Night at a Gate in Edo Japan, 1823 | Sleep History
TheSoftPast
89 views
A neighbourhood gate in Edo, on a night in the first month of 1823, with snow falling from dusk until morning. The man who keeps it lives in a hut beside it, sells roasted sweet potatoes at a fire outside, walks the ward twice with two pieces of wood, and lets through the few who ask.
Nothing happens in this one. That is the point of it. Second person, no music, no sudden sounds, told at the pace of an ordinary winter night so that you can fall asleep somewhere in the middle of it and not miss anything.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Before the night begins
4:13 Dusk — The Gate is Pushed To
21:07 Early Night — The Brazier and the Bar
37:04 Late Evening — Two Pieces of Wood in the Snow
53:31 Midnight — Someone Asks to Pass
1:09:58 The Small Hours — Ice in the Jar
1:25:59 Before Dawn — The Bar Comes Up
1:42:14 Lying down
WHAT THE SOURCES DO NOT SAY
The gate, the hut, the clappers, the trade in roasted sweet potatoes, the small door for those who ask to pass at night, the exemption for doctors and midwives, the watch-house across the crossing with its ladder and its alarm bell, the bell that strikes the hours with three strokes thrown away before the count: all of these are documented for the wards of Edo in this period.
These are not: the weather of that particular night, which is a decision and not a record; the exact words called out on the fire round, which no free source gives, and which is why this narration never quotes them; what a gate keeper was paid after the ward had collected from the houses; whether he slept, and how much; what the inside of his hut looked like; and his name, which he does not have here.
The year is a decision too. The trade in roasted sweet potatoes begins in Edo in the seventeen nineties, the illustrated sources that describe these huts and their goods are of the eighteen thirties and forties, and the chapter is set at a date where both hold.
IMAGES
The images are Japanese prints and drawings in the public domain, chosen for streets, snow, night and small interiors. Most of them are later than this night by some decades: no free Japanese image of a snowbound back street survives in quantity from the eighteen twenties. They are shown here as the nearest true picture of the place, not as a record of that year.
IMAGE CREDITS
All images are Japanese woodblock prints and drawings in the public domain, from the collections named below. Most are later than the night narrated here.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Kambara: Evening Snow — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1940.984 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Suruga Street, ca. 1836 — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 37052 (Open Access)
Torii Kiyonaga, Evening Snow at Sangendo, 1776-80 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1965-339 (public domain)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Hakone Shrine in the Snow, 1880-82 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1988-286 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Evening Snow at Asuka Hill, ca. 1837-38 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1940.983 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Timber Yard at Fukagawa, 1856 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1968-299 (public domain)
Katsushika Hokusai, Bridge in the Snow, 1834-35 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.1149 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Nissaka, ca. 1848-50 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985.323 (CC0)
Mizuno Toshikata, Woman by a Lamp — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1997-98 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Seki, ca. 1848-49 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1930.186 (CC0)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Komoro River at Tennoji, 1880 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1988-282 (public domain)
Ohara Koson, Snow at Yanagibashi, 1927 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1980-13 (public domain)
Hasegawa Sadanobu, Night View of the Yamato Tea-house — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 55413 (Open Access)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Moon at Shinagawa, 1884 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1983-102 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, The Moon-Viewing Promontory, 1857 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985.320 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Snow at the Gion Shrine — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.966 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Tsukudajima from Eitai Bridge, 1858 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1992.73 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Snow on the Sumida River, 1833-38 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1956-771 (public domain)
Kitagawa Utamaro, The Banks of the Sumida in Snow, 1790 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1960-13-5 (public domain)
Takahashi Hiroaki (Shotei), Snow on the Ayase River, 1915 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-2016-66-8 (public domain)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, Snow at Ochanomizu, 1880 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1988-283 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Kanazawa at Night, 1857 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.967 (CC0)
Kobayashi Kiyochika, The Taro Inari Shrine at Asakusa, 1877-82 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1988-279 (public domain)
Katsushika Hokusai, The Sumida River in Snow, 1831-35 — Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1973-221 (public domain)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Meguro Drum Bridge, 1857 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1924.971 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Kano, ca. 1835-37 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1985.321 (CC0)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Yokkaichi, ca. 1833-34 — Cleveland Museum of Art, 1948.307 (CC0)
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