Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)
Kameyama: Clear Weather after Snow
亀山 雪晴 · Kameyama, yukibare
Utagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34
What it is
The morning after the storm: a daimyō procession climbs the steep snow-covered approach to Kameyama castle under a clear dawn sky, the whole hillside one great white diagonal.
Why it matters
One of the series’ celebrated snow scenes and its most austere composition — a single slope cutting the sheet corner to corner, the travelers reduced to a thin dark line upon it.
What to notice
The hill runs one unbroken diagonal from lower left to upper right; the procession is visible only as heads and spear tips above the drifts, and the castle pines hold the summit.
After the storm, the climb remains.
The record
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858)
- Series
- Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)
- Date
- c. 1833–34
- Publisher
- Hōeidō (Takenouchi Magohachi)
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Art Institute of Chicago · 1925.3554
- bokashi
Impression note. The dawn flush over the snowfield is a hand-wiped bokashi that ranges from pale rose to strong pink across printings; the snow itself is largely reserved paper, so the sheet’s freshness is everything. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.
Public domain; faithfully reproduced.
Bring it home
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.
From the same series
Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Nihonbashi: Morning SceneUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34
Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Shinagawa: SunriseUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34
Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Hakone: The LakeUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34
Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Mishima: Morning MistUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.