Hiroshige | Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival, 100 Famous Views of Edo
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
名所江户百景 浅草田甫酉之町诣
Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival, from the series of 100 Famous Views of Edo
1857-58
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 35.6cm x 25cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate-e | 35.6cm x 25cm
奢华版；非常早期的版次带漂亮的木纹；品相非常好；上方和左边边缘经轻微裁切
Deluxe edition; very early impression with beautiful woodgrain; minor trimming to margin, otherwise in great condition.
Price On Request
Here is one of the most striking, and strikingly original, designs from Hiroshige’s heralded “100 Famous Views of Edo.” It’s composition and details create a veritable time machine that brings us back to Edo times, and ranks this as one of the undisputed masterpieces of the series, right up there with “Squall at Ohashi” and “Sleeping Giant Plum.” Indeed, in recent years its auction prices have competed with those works.
“Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival” is a shape-shifting print. At first glance it appears to be one thing, but once you examine it and learn to read the clues, and open your mind, its layers of mystery reveal themselves.
It’s a calm evening. The world is bathed in an orange sunset glow, the barren rice fields are darkening with the coming night, and a cat dozes. In the distance, Fuji San watches serenely over all as a flock of geese glides overhead.
But look closely
In the middle ground, a procession of raucous revelers joyously and no doubt loudly makes its way from right to left. The festival is held in November at the Washi Daimyojin Shrine and attracted thousands of Edo-ites to buy and enjoy auspicious foods and charms.
The foreground, home of the dozing cat, seems like a warm and safe domestic abode.
But look closely.
We are actually in the second story of a Yoshiwara brothel, in the room of a mid-level courtesan. The festival was one of the few times during the year these heavily regulated sex-havens could stay open all day, not just at night. Clues are everywhere. We see a used towel and a bowl of water, some hairpins on the tatami mat that were likely a gift from a custoemr and, peeking out from behind the screen, a roll of tissue paper known as onko-togami – “paper for the honorable act.”
One could theorize that the vertical bars in the window represent a kind of prison for the courtesan trapped within, giving her no choice but the life she is living, but that might be reading too much into Hiroshige’s motivation.
“100 Views of Edo” was the master’s undisputed late-career masterpiece. This is the deluxe edition. Some scholars debate whether the deluxe version came first or after the initial 116-print run of the series was completed, but that’s academic. The printing on this example is extraordinary – perfect bokashi in the cartouche (a characteristic of the deluxe version) and throughout the design (including the cat’s fur), with rich colors, perfect registration and thick, expensive paper. Note, for example, how the folding screen to the far left gradually lightens from the top to the bottom. Amazing.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
名所江户百景 浅草田甫酉之町诣
Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival, from the series of 100 Famous Views of Edo
1857-58
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 35.6cm x 25cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate-e | 35.6cm x 25cm
奢华版；非常早期的版次带漂亮的木纹；品相非常好；上方和左边边缘经轻微裁切
Deluxe edition; very early impression with beautiful woodgrain; minor trimming to margin, otherwise in great condition.
Price On Request
Here is one of the most striking, and strikingly original, designs from Hiroshige’s heralded “100 Famous Views of Edo.” It’s composition and details create a veritable time machine that brings us back to Edo times, and ranks this as one of the undisputed masterpieces of the series, right up there with “Squall at Ohashi” and “Sleeping Giant Plum.” Indeed, in recent years its auction prices have competed with those works.
“Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival” is a shape-shifting print. At first glance it appears to be one thing, but once you examine it and learn to read the clues, and open your mind, its layers of mystery reveal themselves.
It’s a calm evening. The world is bathed in an orange sunset glow, the barren rice fields are darkening with the coming night, and a cat dozes. In the distance, Fuji San watches serenely over all as a flock of geese glides overhead.
But look closely
In the middle ground, a procession of raucous revelers joyously and no doubt loudly makes its way from right to left. The festival is held in November at the Washi Daimyojin Shrine and attracted thousands of Edo-ites to buy and enjoy auspicious foods and charms.
The foreground, home of the dozing cat, seems like a warm and safe domestic abode.
But look closely.
We are actually in the second story of a Yoshiwara brothel, in the room of a mid-level courtesan. The festival was one of the few times during the year these heavily regulated sex-havens could stay open all day, not just at night. Clues are everywhere. We see a used towel and a bowl of water, some hairpins on the tatami mat that were likely a gift from a custoemr and, peeking out from behind the screen, a roll of tissue paper known as onko-togami – “paper for the honorable act.”
One could theorize that the vertical bars in the window represent a kind of prison for the courtesan trapped within, giving her no choice but the life she is living, but that might be reading too much into Hiroshige’s motivation.
“100 Views of Edo” was the master’s undisputed late-career masterpiece. This is the deluxe edition. Some scholars debate whether the deluxe version came first or after the initial 116-print run of the series was completed, but that’s academic. The printing on this example is extraordinary – perfect bokashi in the cartouche (a characteristic of the deluxe version) and throughout the design (including the cat’s fur), with rich colors, perfect registration and thick, expensive paper. Note, for example, how the folding screen to the far left gradually lightens from the top to the bottom. Amazing.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
名所江户百景 浅草田甫酉之町诣
Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival, from the series of 100 Famous Views of Edo
1857-58
木版画 | 纵绘大判 | 35.6cm x 25cm
Woodblock-print | Oban tate-e | 35.6cm x 25cm
奢华版；非常早期的版次带漂亮的木纹；品相非常好；上方和左边边缘经轻微裁切
Deluxe edition; very early impression with beautiful woodgrain; minor trimming to margin, otherwise in great condition.
Price On Request
Here is one of the most striking, and strikingly original, designs from Hiroshige’s heralded “100 Famous Views of Edo.” It’s composition and details create a veritable time machine that brings us back to Edo times, and ranks this as one of the undisputed masterpieces of the series, right up there with “Squall at Ohashi” and “Sleeping Giant Plum.” Indeed, in recent years its auction prices have competed with those works.
“Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival” is a shape-shifting print. At first glance it appears to be one thing, but once you examine it and learn to read the clues, and open your mind, its layers of mystery reveal themselves.
It’s a calm evening. The world is bathed in an orange sunset glow, the barren rice fields are darkening with the coming night, and a cat dozes. In the distance, Fuji San watches serenely over all as a flock of geese glides overhead.
But look closely
In the middle ground, a procession of raucous revelers joyously and no doubt loudly makes its way from right to left. The festival is held in November at the Washi Daimyojin Shrine and attracted thousands of Edo-ites to buy and enjoy auspicious foods and charms.
The foreground, home of the dozing cat, seems like a warm and safe domestic abode.
But look closely.
We are actually in the second story of a Yoshiwara brothel, in the room of a mid-level courtesan. The festival was one of the few times during the year these heavily regulated sex-havens could stay open all day, not just at night. Clues are everywhere. We see a used towel and a bowl of water, some hairpins on the tatami mat that were likely a gift from a custoemr and, peeking out from behind the screen, a roll of tissue paper known as onko-togami – “paper for the honorable act.”
One could theorize that the vertical bars in the window represent a kind of prison for the courtesan trapped within, giving her no choice but the life she is living, but that might be reading too much into Hiroshige’s motivation.
“100 Views of Edo” was the master’s undisputed late-career masterpiece. This is the deluxe edition. Some scholars debate whether the deluxe version came first or after the initial 116-print run of the series was completed, but that’s academic. The printing on this example is extraordinary – perfect bokashi in the cartouche (a characteristic of the deluxe version) and throughout the design (including the cat’s fur), with rich colors, perfect registration and thick, expensive paper. Note, for example, how the folding screen to the far left gradually lightens from the top to the bottom. Amazing.
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
Ando Hiroshige (1897-1858) revolutionized the art of landscape prints during the Edo era, building on the success of his senior, Hokusai, but taking a more poetic and naturalist approach to portraying the beauty of Japan.
The son of a low-level Samurai assigned to the fire brigade in Edo, Hiroshige became a student of the Utagawa school as a young man. His first prints focused on beautiful women (bijin), and views of Edo. But in 1833 he began work on his most famous early work, his first series depicting the Tokaido, the "Great Sea Road" between Edo and Tokyo.
Today there is some controversy about this series. Initially, it was believed that Hiroshige had travelled the route along with a local lord (Daimyo) who was making a gift of horses to the Emperor. But more recent scholarship suggests Hiroshige never travelled the road himself, at least not the entire way, and made his designs using published guidebooks.
Nonetheless, the prints were wonderful and revolutionary. They embraced the seasons with a gentle lyricism missing from Hokusai's striking but stylized depictions. In Hiroshige's work, nature is sacred -- but it is always mixed with humanity, with travelers or little inns or bridges. There is a magical harmony between man and the elements.
His depiction of the seasons and weather is especially evocative. Snow blankets some views with a hushed silence, while rain streaks down furiously in others. In some prints natured is agitated; in others, calm prevails. Produced in a horizontal oban yoko-e format, the series was a smash hit.
The Tokaido series made Hiroshige famous, and he became incredible prolific. In the 1840s he produced many strong designs, but many mediocre ones, too, including several subsequent Tokaido series of varying quality.
In 1853, however, he made a big step. He turned his landscapes sideways, embracing a bold vertical oban tate-e format. This gave his designs new energy and a modern feel. The first of these was Famous Views of the Sixty-Odd Provinces. From them on, most of his most noted series were executed in this format.
He saved his greatest for his last. In 1856 he began work on 100 Famous Views of Edo, which many consider his most exceptional work. Here his home city was portrayed with energy and passion, and in these 119 designs he created an incredible record of a vanished place. In addition to the striking vertical format, he developed exciting new compositions, often juxtaposing a strong foreground element with a distant background.
Among the many famous images in this series are Squall at Ohashi and the Plum Garden in Komeido. Both of these were copied by Vincent Van Gogh, a great admirer of Hiroshige. Thus, the great Japanese artist had a profound effect on Western art.
Alas, his beloved Edo ended his life. Hiroshige was claimed by a cholera epidemic that swept the city in 1958. His pupil Shigenobu, who took the name Hiroshige II, completed The Famous Views of Edo.