The 1830s woodcut print by Hasegawa Settan depicts the steep, densely wooded hillside of Atago-yama topped in the haze by the Shinto shrine of Atago-jinja, which visitors reach either by a stone stairway thrusting straight to the summit, or another zigzagging round the side. In the foreground, a torii (entrance gate) guarding the shrine's precincts is flanked by affiliated temples and shrines.
The amazing stairways and the great view from the hilltop were vividly described in 1863's "The Capital of the Tycoon," a lively account by Rutherford Alcock (1809-97) of his experiences in Japan from 1859 to 1862. Arriving in front of the torii, the first British government representative to Japan says: "Through the gateway may be seen the double flights of steps, the one leading up to the top of the hill, in perpendicular and unbroken line; the other curving less abruptly upward. And, although the height is probably the same, the undulating flight looks so much less arduous, that we instinctively turn to the right, willing to believe in its gentler promise.
"And thus we gain the summit of Atango-yama [sic], so called from the god Atango [sic], to whom a temple is dedicated here. From no other point can so fine and commanding a view of the Bay of Yeddo [Edo], and the city washed by its waves, be obtained. And the picture that bursts suddenly upon the traveler is very striking. The hill fronts to the bay, but with a couple of miles of valley intervening, thickly covered by streets and temples. To the left, and in a northeastern [northwestern, he should have said] direction, another two miles interval of plain is in like manner filled up with a dense mass of houses, until a range of hills is reached on which the Tycoon's castle stands.