Night Rain at the Azuma Shrine (from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo)
Medium
color woodblock print
Dimensions
21.6 × 34.4 cm
Classification
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Henry S. Upson
Accession Number
1942.145
Tags
male
About this artwork
Here Hiroshige reinterprets the traditional Chinese poetic and artistic theme of Eight Views of Xiaoxiang, a scenic region in southeast China. Inspired by “rain at night on the Xiaoxiang,” Hiroshige instead places travelers near Azuma Jinja Shrine in an Edo (present-day Tokyo) suburb. Synthetic blue pigment, imported from the West and wildly popular in the early 1800s, adds vibrancy to the muted landscape. Thin, ruler-straight diagonal lines of white ink evoke the driving rain.