New Year’s Eve Fox Fires at the Changing Tree (Ōji shozoku enoki omisoka no kitsunebi), from the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)
Medium
Color woodblock print; ōban
Dimensions
33.3 × 21.8 cm (13 1/8 × 8 9/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
26617
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Unlike most prints by Utagawa Hiroshige, this work is based on folklore. Japanese tradition holds that on New Year’s Eve, foxes gather at a specific tree near the Oji Inari Shrine in preparation for a visit to the site. On the way there, the foxes produce distinctive flames from their mouths that the local farmers can use to predict the crops of the coming year. The artist incorporated many different shades of gray to set off the barely visible fires coming from some 60 foxes approaching the shr...
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...