Fuchu, section of sheet no. 5 from the series "Cutouts of the Fifty-three Stations (Gojusan tsugi harimaze)"
Medium
Color woodblock print; section of harimaze sheet (uncut sheet: 1939.1294)
Dimensions
18.2 × 10 cm (7 3/16 × 3 15/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
26411
Art Historical Context
This delicate color woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige captures a view of Fuchū, one of the fifty-three stations along Japan’s historic Tōkaidō highway. Created in 1852 as part of the series *Cutouts of the Fifty-three Stations (Gojusan tsugi harimaze)*, the image originally formed a small section of a larger uncut sheet designed for collectors to cut apart and paste into albums or screens. Hiroshige, a master of the ukiyo-e tradition, specialized in atmospheric landscapes that conveyed both the poetry of travel and the changing seasons. The harimaze format itself reflects the playful spiri...
About the Artist
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1826–1869
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), born Andō Tokutarō, was the last great master of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking and one of the most influential landscape artists in history. Born in Edo (modern Tokyo) into a low-ranking samurai family serving as fire wardens, Hiroshige transformed landscape printmaking into a poetic meditation on nature, weather, and everyday life. His revolutionary approac...