Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) | Night Rain at Azuma Wood (Azuma-no-mori yau) | Edo period, 19th century

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Lot Closed

June 12, 11:22 AM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 8,000 EUR

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Lot Details

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Description

woodblock print, from the series Eight Views in the Environs of Edo (Edo kinko hakkei no uchi), signed Hiroshige ga (Pictured by Hiroshige), censor’s seal kiwame (approved), published by Sanoya Kihei (Kikakudo), circa 1837-38, second edition, poem by Suichodo

Horizontal oban: 24.6 x 36.1 cm., 9¾ by 14⅛ in.

Two travellers pass each other along an embankment near an intersection by the forest of Azuma. A torii gate marks the entrance to a shrine barely visible within the dense wood. A soft rain falls through the dark night. The trees and foliage are rendered entirely in black.

The poem by Suichodo has been translated as:

Yanagishima –

could I but borrow

a willow-bark cape,

in the grove of Azuma

a midnight spring rain.

Yanagishima –

yanagi no mino o

karitemashi

Azuma no mori no

yowa no harusame

A similar impression of the same print is in the collection of the British Museum, museum number 1942,0124,0.18, go to:

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1942-0124-0-18

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