Hiroshige II • Θέασεις διάσημων τόπων του Edo • Ιαπωνική ξυλογραφία • Ukiyo-e - Ιαπωνία - Edo Period (1600-1868)

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige II (二代目歌川広重, 1826–1869); signed Hiroshige ga (広重画)
Subject: The Sazaedō (Spiral Hall) of Gohyaku Rakan-ji, the Temple of the Five Hundred Arhats, in the eastern flatlands of Edo
Series: Edo meishō zue (江戸名勝圖會) — Viewing Famous Places of Edo
Date: 1862 (Bunkyū 2) — ημερολογιακή σφραγίδα του έτους του Κυνός, διακλάδωση 8ου μήνα
Publisher: Fujiokaya Keijirō (藤岡屋慶次郎)
Technique: Ξυλογραφία (mokuhanga), πολυχρωμία (nishiki-e) με διαβαθμίσεις bokashi
Format: Ōban tate-e, περίπου 36 × 24 εκ. (14¼ × 9½ in.)
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Paper & condition

A well-printed impression with well-preserved colour. The sheet is firm and intact, with no tears, holes, or losses, and the image area is clean. There is a minor soiling spot on the reverse, not visible from the front and with no effect on the design. Moderate tonning!
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The Scene — Dusk at the Edge of the City

Evening is settling over the eastern fringe of Edo. A deep blue twilight deepens at the top of the sheet, and behind a dark stand of pines a startling band of red marks the last of the sun. Along the approach road, visitors are making their way home: a woman shelters under a blue parasol, a sword-bearing samurai walks ahead of a child in red, pilgrims and townsfolk pass a roadside teahouse where others rest, and a lone figure strolls the embankment at right. Beyond the canal and a flight of stone steps, the great temple precinct rises into view.

Dominating the composition is the extraordinary building at its heart — its tall, steeply tapering roof crowned with a gleaming bronze finial, its pink-walled upper galleries lined with tiny figures who have climbed up to take in the celebrated view. This is the Sazaedō, the "Spiral Hall," and it is the reason Edo's day-trippers came out to this flat, watery district in the first place. Hiroshige II builds the picture around the contrast of the bright, almost exotic temple against the cool dusk — a quiet, beautifully observed record of one of the city's favourite outings.
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Hiroshige II and the Edo meishō zue

Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826–1869) was born Suzuki Chinpei and trained as the chief pupil of the great Hiroshige I under the name Shigenobu. He married the master's adopted daughter Otatsu and, on Hiroshige I's death in 1858, inherited both his teacher's name and his signature — so closely modelled on the elder artist's that the two have often been confused. He completed the final designs of his master's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo before establishing himself in his own right.

The Edo meishō zue ("Views of Famous Places of Edo"), published by Fujiokaya Keijirō between 1862 and 1864, is Hiroshige II's own great survey of the capital and the work for which he is best remembered. Issued in the last years of the Edo period, the series carries forward the vertical-format landscape tradition of his master while developing a distinct, moody atmosphere of its own — the cool blue palettes, dramatic skies, and strong colour accents seen so clearly in this sheet. Some seventy-one designs from the series are recorded.