Spring Rain at Tsuchiyama, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō
Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese
Not on view
Tsuchiyama—a travelers' station on the road known as the Tōkaidō, in the mountains just before the road ends at Kyoto— is famous for its rain, and rain is central to this print's composition. The gentle melancholy of a spring shower is suggested by delicate, crisscrossing vertical lines that subdue a daimyō procession.
Utagawa Hiroshige, one of Japan's foremost landscapists, designed two extremely popular series: Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and One Hundred Famous Views of Edo.