Musashi Province: Morning after Snow on the Sumida River (Musashi, Sumidagawa yuki no ashita), from the series "Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces (Rokujuyoshu meisho zue)"
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
26651
Art Historical Context
In the serene woodblock print *Musashi Province: Morning Snow on the Sumida* (1853), Utagawa Hiroshige captures a tranquil winter dawn along Tokyo's iconic Sumida River. Part of his expansive series *Famous Places in the Sixty-odd* (*Rokujuyoshu meisho zue*), this oban-sized color woodblock print showcases Hiroshige's mastery of ukiyo-e, the "pictures of the floating world" genre that celebrated everyday beauty amid Japan's Edo-period (1603–1868) urban life. The scene likely depicts snow-dusted rooftops, distant bridges, and the river's glassy surface, evoking a hushed, poetic stillness. Hiro...
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...