Ryogoku Yanagibashi (Kawachiya)|江戸高名会亭尽 両国柳橋 河内屋|Tea-house at the Willow Bridge
ca. 1835–42
Medium
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
H. 9 5/16 in. (23.7 cm); W. 14 3/16 in. (36 cm)
Classification
Prints
Culture & Period
Japan · Edo period (1615–1868)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1919
Accession Number
JP1164
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the bustling world of Edo-period Japan with Utagawa Hiroshige's *Ryogoku Yanagib (Kawachiya)*, or *Tea-house at the Bridge*, created around 1835–42. This vibrant woodblock print captures a lively scene at the Kawachiya teahouse along the Sum River in Ryogoku, a popular pleasure district in Edo (modern Tokyo). Graceful willow trees frame men and women enjoying boats and riverside leisure, evoking the era's fascination with urban pastimes amid the peace and prosperity of the Edo period (1615–1868). Hiroshige, a master of the ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") tradition, showca...
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...