View of Nihonbashi Tori-itchome (Nihonbashi Tori-itchome Ryakuzu), plate 44 from 'One Hundred Views of Edo'...

It is a hot summer day in the middle of the Main Street of Edo in the bustling Nihonbashi district, and almost everyone hides under a hat or a parasol, intent on avoiding the sun. Under a huge two-tiered parasol is a group of dancers who performed celebratory shrine dances for donations. Called Sumiyoshi dancers because of their origin as seasonal minstrels from Sumiyoshi Shrine near the city of Osaka, they had evolved by Hiroshige's time into native Edo street performers. Following them is a different sort of street minstrel, from the outcast hinin class. Such women sang songs accompanied by the samisen, a lute-like instrument, and were always escorted at a distance by a husband or a father.