The ukiyoe artist Utagawa Hiroshige certainly fits all of the “-un” terms in the Prescribed Title. His depiction of this scene and others in his artwork creates a number of challenges.
Firstly, historians use art as sources in their investigation of history. In this case Hiroshige’s artwork does add to our understanding of Japanese history. Hiroshige, though, is not faithfully recording the scene exactly as he saw it and his goal was to create unique piece of art. There are limits as to what a historian can learn from a particular artist and an artist’s works.
Also, different historians view and interpret sources in particular ways. This can be affected by a number of factors such as the historian’s area of specialization, language skills, nationality, etc. Historians can clearly fit all of the “-un” terms in the Prescribed Title.
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