Rain, moon and the road

Utagawa Hiroshige

Woodblock prints of a Japan seen on the move. Wild geese crossing a full moon, night rain slanting over the great pine at Karasaki, the post town of Ōtsu on the Tōkaidō road, a temple grove beside a village, and a small view of Edo. Hiroshige let one colour fade into the next, so his skies go from deep blue to nothing.

As a puzzle

Kind, with one catch. Outlines and flat colour give the towns, boats and trees clear edges, but the skies and the water are printed as smooth fades, and a piece of fading blue can belong almost anywhere along it. The night rain is the hard one: fine grey lines from edge to edge. Keep that one lower.

A good size here: 50–250 pieces.

Also filed under Ukiyo-e

Subjects here: Landscapes Night Animals Birds Rivers and Lakes Towns and Cities

6 pictures, pick one to build

Six Jewel Rivers from Various Provinces 1857

Wild Geese Flying under the Full Moon ca. 1833

The Suijin Temple Grove, Uchikawa, and the Village of Sekiya 8th month 1857

Night Rain at Karasaki, from the series Eight Views of Ōmi (Ōmi hakkei no uchi) ca. 1835

Ōtsu, from the series The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road (Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi, Ōtsu) 1841–44

Small View of Yedo 1817–58