Utagawa Hiroshige, Kanbara, Night Snow from the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido”
Speaker: Dr. Cortney Chaffin Kim
This video explores a snowy scene from a famous Japanese woodblock print series titled “Fifty-Three Stations of Tōkaidō,” published between 1832 and 1834 by print designer Andō Hiroshige (also known as Utagawa Hiroshige). The Tōkaidō was one of two main highways that connected the cities of Tokyo and Kyoto. This series was created after Hiroshige traveled the route in 1832, making sketches of the 53 post stations along the way. We take a close look at the fifteenth station, Kanbara, as illustrated by Hiroshige and explain how he took artistic liberties in his depiction.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Kanbara yoru no yuki (Kanbara, Night Snow) from the series “Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi (Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō),” 1833/1834, color woodblock print on paper (ōban nishiki-e), 9 1/8 in x 13 3/4 in (margins trimmed off). Portland Art Museum, photo: © Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank.
Video Chapters
0:00 Fifty-Three Stations of Tokaido and Andō Hiroshige
1:25 What is a woodblock print?
2:41 Evening Snow at Kanbara
3:26 Hiroshige and Hokusai
Learn more
Learn more about Early Modern Japan: https://www.artsq.org/early-modern-japan
Explore Winter and Art History: https://www.artsq.org/winter-season
