Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)
Tsuchiyama: Spring Rain
土山 · Tsuchiyama
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1834–35
What it is
A procession in straw rain capes crosses a bridge at Tsuchiyama, the forty-ninth station, heads down against the driving spring rain.
Why it matters
Hiroshige gives this station to the weather: the rain is the subject as much as the travellers.
What to notice
The rain is cut as fine diagonal lines across the whole sheet, and the figures bend into it.
The road does not stop for rain.
The record
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858)
- Series
- Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)
- Date
- 1834–35
- Publisher
- Hōeidō (Takenouchi Magohachi)
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP520
Impression note. Hiroshige made the series after his first trip along the Tōkaidō in 1832, and it became the best-selling set of ukiyo-e prints, so impressions vary widely in strength and colour. This is the largest clean open impression of the design the Met holds. 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.