The last expression of a form of representation.
Literally meaning “pictures of the floating world,” ukiyo-e refers to the famous Japanese woodblock print genre that originated in the 17th century and is practically synonymous with the Western world’s visual characterisation of Japan.
This was probably one of the latest, greatest, collection of woodblock prints before the diffusion of photography as a modern form of representation of the cityscapes. In the same way, film photography is nowadays being replaced by digital image capturing making Tokyo Hyaku one of the last attempts to produce such a vast exploration.
By technical analogy, film photography carries the same blank space framing the pictures coming form the process of developing the negative image.