Irises at Horikiri (Horikiri no hanashobu), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
150302
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The suburb of Horikiri was famous for its marshy land and flower cultivation, and the hanashōbu iris seen here was its most well-known product. Hanashōbu irises were popular not only in Edo (now Tokyo) but also in the West: German botanist and physician Philipp von Siebold brought them to Europe in the 1850s. Popular images like this one made the flower a symbol of Japan. The printer used glorious purples and delicate gradation to depict the flowers in this print, considered an iconic representa...
About the Artist
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1826–1869
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), born Andō Tokutarō, was the last great master of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking and one of the most influential landscape artists in history. Born in Edo (modern Tokyo) into a low-ranking samurai family serving as fire wardens, Hiroshige transformed landscape printmaking into a poetic meditation on nature, weather, and everyday life. His revolutionary approac...