Sazai Hall of the Five Hundred Rakan Temple (Gohyaku Rakan Sazaido), from the series “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)”
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions
34 × 22.4 cm (13 3/8 × 8 13/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
196787
Art Historical Context
In Utagawa Hiroshige *Sazai Hall of Five Hundred Rakan TempleGohyaku Rakan Sazaido)* from his renowned series *One Hundred Famous of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)*, created in 1857 we glimpse a serene corner of Edo (modern-day Tokyo) during Japan's Edo period. This color woodblock print, in the standard oban format (34 × 22.4 cm), captures the Gohyaku Rakan Temple Sazai Hall in Meguro, famed for its 500 stone statues of rakan—enlightened disciples of the Buddha. Hiroshige, a master of the ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") tradition, immortalized these sites just before Japan's forced openi...
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...