210122-0010-OS - Nori Seaweed Production

Woodblock print of the various stages of Asakusa nori seaweed production in Musashi Province (武蔵国, Musashi no kuni). The province comprised Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was also known as Bushu (武州).

Nori was invented in Asakusa, Edo (contemporary Tokyo), around 1750 (Kan’en 3).

Original title: Drying Asakusa nori seaweed in Musashi Province (武蔵國浅草海苔製圖) from the series Products of Greater Japan (大日本物産圖會, Dai Nippon Bussan Zue) by Utagawa Hiroshige III (三代目 歌川広重, 1842?-1894). Published in Tokyo by Okura Magobei (大倉孫兵衛) in 1877 (Meiji 10).

The series was published just before the opening of the First National Industrial Exposition (第1回内国勧業博覧会) in Tokyo’s Ueno Park on August 21, 1877.