Guided tour · One artist · 1760–1849 · 1797–1858

Hokusai & Hiroshige

The two masters of the Japanese landscape print, side by side: ten prints, in roughly the order they were made.

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Works

10

Time

about 15 min

Collections

5

About this tour

Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige both lived in Edo, today's Tokyo. From the 1830s they made the landscape print famous, and their views travelled the world. Here are ten of their prints from five museums, in roughly the order they were made. At every work, look first, then discover.

We begin around 1830. Hokusai is already seventy.

The 10 works

1. 

   Work 1 of 10

   The Suspension Bridge on the Border of Hida and Etchū Provinces

   Katsushika Hokusai · about 1830 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   How high is this bridge? Look for a clue.

   Birds fly beneath it. Two travellers, one with a heavy load, cross the rope bridge high above the valley.

   It comes from Hokusai's series of remarkable bridges in the provinces of Japan.

2. 

   Work 2 of 10

   South Wind, Clear Sky (Red Fuji)

   Katsushika Hokusai · about 1830–32 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   Why is the mountain red?

   Between late summer and early autumn, Fuji can take on a reddish hue. Only streaks of snow are left near the top.

   With very few colours, Hokusai made one of the best-known images of Japan.

3. 

   Work 3 of 10

   Ejiri in Suruga Province

   Katsushika Hokusai · about 1830–32 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   What is the wind carrying away?

   Sheets of paper and a hat, whirling up into the sky.

   The travellers bend into the gust. Mount Fuji is no more than a thin outline on the left.

4. 

   Work 4 of 10

   Kirifuri Waterfall at Kurokami Mountain

   Katsushika Hokusai · about 1832 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   Find the people at this waterfall.

   Small travellers at the foot of the falls, looking up. Two more climb among the trees at the top right.

   The water splits into streams like fingers. Kirifuri Falls are near Nikkō, north of Edo.

5. 

   Work 5 of 10

   Evening Snow at Kambara

   Utagawa Hiroshige · 1833 · Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland

   How did Hiroshige make the falling snow?

   By leaving the paper white: the flakes were carved out of the woodblock, so the paper shows through.

   Snow rarely falls in the coastal town of Kambara. This may be the first print by Hiroshige to show falling snow.

6. 

   Work 6 of 10

   One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji

   Katsushika Hokusai · 1834–35 · Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton

   Something is rising past the mountain. What is it?

   A dragon, its claws reaching out of the swirling clouds.

   In this book Hokusai wrote that at a hundred he hoped to reach the divine in his art. He signed it as the old man mad about painting.

7. 

   Work 7 of 10

   The Monkey Bridge in Kai Province

   Utagawa Hiroshige · about 1841–42 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

   This picture is very tall. What spans the gorge, high up?

   A wooden bridge, with a traveller crossing it. Below it, between the trees, hangs a full moon.

   It is made of two prints, one above the other, mounted as a hanging scroll. Far below, the river rushes through the gorge.

8. 

   Work 8 of 10

   Eagle over Jūmantsubo Plain

   Utagawa Hiroshige · 1857 · National Museum in Kraków, Kraków

   Who is watching over this snowy plain?

   An eagle, soaring with its sharp eye on the ground below.

   From One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. The bird fills the sky; the plain lies far below, under snow.

9. 

   Work 9 of 10

   The Plum Garden at Kameido Shrine

   Utagawa Hiroshige · 1857 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

   What fills the front of this picture?

   An old plum tree, cut off by the edges of the print. Behind it, visitors picnic among the blossom.

   In 1887, in Paris, Van Gogh copied this print in oil. His copy is in the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.

10. 

    Work 10 of 10

    Sudden Shower over Ohashi Bridge at Atake

    Utagawa Hiroshige · 1857 · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

    How did Hiroshige draw the rain?

    As fine dark lines. On the bridge, people hurry under umbrellas, a big hat and a reed mat.

    On the river, a man poles a raft of logs. Van Gogh copied this print too, and framed his copy with Japanese characters.

The end of the tour

Two masters, one floating world.

Hokusai worked until he was almost ninety, Hiroshige until his death in 1858. Their prints reached Europe and inspired painters such as Van Gogh and Monet.

Questions at the end

Start this tour in Auriaan

Works from these collections

• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• Princeton University Art Museum
• National Museum in Kraków
• Rijksmuseum

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