Snow on Benten Hill at Kinryuzan Temple in Asakusa (Asakusa Kinryuzan Bentenyama setchu no zu)
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions
24.3 × 36.6 cm (9 9/16 × 14 7/16 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
9893
Art Historical Context
Utagawa Kuniyoshi *Snow on Benten Hill Kinryuzan Temple Asakusa* (1853) captures a serene winter moment in Edo-period Tokyo (modern-day Asakusa). This color woodblock print, in the large oban format (24.3 × 36.6 cm), depicts snow blanketing the hill near Kinryuzan Temple, a popular site linked to the goddess Benten. Kuniyoshi, a master of the ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") tradition, shifts from his famed warrior and supernatural themes to evoke the quiet beauty of urban nature, blending temple architecture with a light dusting of snow. Produced during Japan's late Edo period amid...
About the Artist
Utagawa Kuniyoshi · 1797–1861
Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861) was born in Edo to the silk-dyer Yanagiya Kichiyemon, originally bearing the childhood name Yoshisaburō. From a young age, he assisted in his family's pattern design work, which sharpened his innate mastery of color and textile motifs that would permeate his later prints. At around twelve years old, his prodigious drawing skills drew the attention of the renowned Utag...