JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > SNOWY DAWN IN MISHIMA

Lot 00647
N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print

Utagawa Hiroshige

SNOWY DAWN IN MISHIMA

Period: 1840-42
Condition: good
Size: 22,5 x 17 cm

SOLD

As soon as I wake up / I still feel that / I am following the path of dreams. / Snowy dawn / of flowers and Mishima (今も猶 / 夢路をたどる / 心ちかな / はなとみしまの / 雪の曙). The words of the kyoka (狂歌) poem by Tachikawa Ishime (立川伊志女), written in the upper central part of the work, accompany this enchanting depiction of the Mishima station (三島宿), dominated by Mount Fuji (富士山), made between 1840 and 1842 by the artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重).

This precious woodblock print is the twelfth panel of the "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road" (東海道五拾三次), a series also known as the "Kyoka Tokaido" (狂歌入東海道) due to the presence, in fact, of poetic compositions combined with the stations of the famous route that connected Edo (江戸) or today's Tokyo (東京), the shogun's capital, with the imperial capital Kyoto (京都).

The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), produced by the publisher Sanoya Kihei (佐野屋喜兵衛), owner of Kikakudo (喜鶴堂), despite the right signs of aging, is in good condition.

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