Vast Field of Susaki at Fukagawa

This view northwest from Fukagawa Susaki, a strip of land along Edo Bay towards Jūmantsubo is named after an area of approximately one hundred thousand tsubo (about eighty acres) and is one of the most dramatic designs of the series 'One hundred views of celebrated places in Edo'. Its appeal lies in the contrast between the powerful form of the eagle as it prepares to dive for prey and the desolate wintry marshes below. Despite no people, there is still a pervasive human presence—in the roofs huddled to the left, in the poles of the lumber-yards beyond, and, above all, in the lone wooden bucket floating at the edge of the bay, surrounded by water birds on which the eagle seems to have its eye. I love it.