Woodblock Prints by Utagawa Hiroshige

Woodblock Prints

By Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)

Woodblock Prints

By Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 – 1858) Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was born Ando Tokutaro into a minor samurai family in Edo. As a teenager, he trained in painting and print design with the Utagawa School, and was given the artist name Hiroshige, taking “hiro” from his teacher Utagawa Tokuhiro and the school's name Utagawa. Hiroshige went on to be one of the great painters and print designers of the 19th century, specializing in images of landscapes.

His best-selling series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi) depicted the fifty-three stopping points along the 323-mile-long route between Edo (modern Tokyo) and Kyoto and launched the genre of landscape woodblock prints.

In total, Hiroshige designed between 4,000 and 4,500 prints, including 2,000 landscapes (800 of Edo, 800 of the Tōkaidō and 800 of other places in Japan). His series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo featured vertical views of his beloved city, Edo, and he had created well over 100 views when his life was cut short by a cholera epidemic in 1858.

A New Genre of Woodblock Prints in Japan

Hiroshige’s most famous series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi), launched the genre of landscape woodblock prints in Japan in the early 1830s. This series and many of his other series of views along the Tōkaidō were in a horizontal format, the format that Western artists have traditionally preferred for depicting views of natural landscapes. However, in traditional Chinese painting, mountain landscapes were vertical, allowing artists to create depth by layering elements of the scene upwards to represent the foreground, middle ground and distance. Many Japanese artists adopted this approach in paintings, and Hiroshige introduced it into his landscape

prints, seemingly equally comfortable with both orientations. Later in his life, he designed more vertical landscapes, most famously in his series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, published in the late 1850s, in which he created many designs, such as the image of the summer downpour on Ohashi Bridge, which benefit greatly from the verticality of the composition.

Kyoto, No.55 In the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido c. 1833 – 34 This view of Kyoto is from Hiroshige’s most famous series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi), which launched the genre of landscape woodblock prints. The best-selling series depicted the fifty-three stopping points where travelers could rest, eat and purchase souvenirs along the 323 miles of road between Edo (modern Tokyo) and Kyoto. It also included an image of Edo – the starting point of the journey from the point of view of Edoites like Hiroshige and the people who bought the prints – and of the final destination of Kyoto, the image shown here. This print depicts travelers on a wooden bridge leading into Kyoto, hills colored with dense autumn foliage in the distance. Having traveled the Tōkaidō Road himself, Hiroshige undoubtedly understood the joy and relief travelers felt when they reached the scenic ancient capital.

Cherry Blossom Viewing at Mount Goten c. 1832 – 1855

This scene by Hiroshige depicts cherry blossom viewing (Japanese: hanami) at Mount Goten, or Palace Hill, in modern Shinagawa. Overlooking the Meguro River to the south, it was one of the most popular sites for hanami during the Edo period.

The Exposed Buddha at Jōsen Temple c. 1835 Hiroshige’s most famous landscape prints featured views beyond the capital. In this print, he depicts the Great Buddha at Kamakura, a huge bronze statue that was originally built in the 13th century at the Kōtoku Temple. The bronze Buddha was originally housed in the Great Buddha Hall, but the structure was damaged by typhoons in 1334 and 1369 and then completely washed away in 1498 from a tsunami caused by the Nankai Earthquake. The statue itself has also been damaged and repaired several times but it has sat exposed for over 500 years. As if to highlight the power and might of the natural elements, Hiroshige exercises artistic license by showing the iconic statue with the even more iconic and volcanic Mount Fuji in the distance.

Sudden Shower Over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge, No.52 In the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo c. 1857 This print is one of Hiroshige’s most famous views of Edo. Pedestrians caught in a late summer downpour cross the Shin-Ōhashi Bridge, one of the many bridges spanning the Sumida River. The power of nature is clearly a central theme, although this image shows people on a man-made structure so it is not a landscape in the traditional sense. By depicting rain in fine black lines cutting downwards through the composition, Hiroshige allows us to almost sense its force as it lashes down on the poor hunched pedestrians below. The bold design and atmospheric intensity have made this print one of Hiroshige’s most celebrated images and inspired Vincent van Gogh to create a copy in oils thirty years later.

Meguro Drum Bridge and 'Setting Sun' Hill, No. 111 In the series 100 Famous Views of Edo c. 1858 Drum Bridge, a rare arched stone bridge in Meguro, led to Ryūsenji, a popular Buddhist temple. The military government built Ryūsen Temple to honor the wrathful Buddhist deity, Fudō-myōō, and ensure the protection of the regime and the capital. Hiroshige’s snowy scene exudes peace and tranquility, with a gently darkened sky suggesting twilight, and the white of the paper left deliberately uncolored to convey a landscape blanketed in snowy silence. As with many of his scenes of Edo, he portrays this corner of the city with great skill and emotion. Judging by the number of prints in this series, he enjoyed rendering his hometown of Edo so much that he could not stop at 100!

Whirlpools and Waves at Naruto, Awa Province, No. 55 In the series Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces c. 1853 – 1856 Here, Hiroshige depicts the famous whirlpools in the Naruto Strait. The channel – located between Naruto in Tokushima (on Shikoku) and Awaji Island in Hyōgo Prefecture – connects Japan’s Inland Sea with the Pacific Ocean. Twice a day, the tide moves large amounts of water in and out of the Inland Sea through the narrow strait, causing water to rush through the channel reaching speeds of around 10 miles per hour and creating some

of the world’s strongest currents and spectacular whirlpools, known in Japanese as uzushio or uzumaki. Though Hiroshige had never visited the Naruto Strait, he illustrated the whirlpools on more than one occasion. Here, he cleverly uses the white of the paper in the claw-like crests of the waves and the spiraling swirls of the whirlpool to express the water’s immense energy and perhaps pay homage to Hokusai’s iconic Great Wave.

All imagery provided by JAPAN HOUSE Los Angeles via their current exhibition “Nature/Supernature: Visions of This World and Beyond in Japanese Woodblock Prints”