Gathering Cliff Fungus at Kumano, Kishu Province (Kishu kumano iwatake tori), from the series “One Hundred Views of Famous Views in the Various Provinces (shokoku meishi hyakkei)"
Medium
Color woodblock print
Dimensions
Paper: 35 × 24.2 cm (13 13/16 × 9 9/16 in.); Block: 33.2 × 21.9 cm (13 1/8 × 8 5/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196817
Art Historical Context
In the late Edo period, Utagawa Hirosh II (Shigenobu), a gifted pupil of the master landscape artist Hiroshige I, created vivid color woodblock print in 1860 as part of his series *One Hundred Views of Views in the Various Provinces Titled *Gathering Cliff Fungus atano, Kishu Province*, it captures a daring scene from the rugged cliffs of Kumano in modern-day Wakayama Prefecture, a sacred pilgrimage site known for ancient shrines and Shinto-Buddhist heritage. Here, intrepid gatherers scale sheer rock faces to harvest *iwatake*—a prized, edible bracket fungus that clung to precarious heights, s...
About the Artist
Utagawa Hiroshige II (Shigenobu) · 1826–1869
Utagawa Hiroshige II, born Suzuki Chinpei in 1826, was one of the most accomplished ukiyo-e artists of mid-nineteenth century Japan. He entered the studio of the celebrated landscape master Utagawa Hiroshige I — known for his iconic series "The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido" — and proved himself the most talented of the elder artist's few students. So highly regarded was the young pupil that...