Night Rain at the Paulownia Grove at Akasaka (Akasaka Kiribatake uchu yukei), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"

Art Historical Context

This evocative color woodblock print belongs to the celebrated series *One Hundred Famous Views of Edo*, published in 1859 during the final years of the Edo period. Created by Utagawa Hiroshige II (also known as Shigenobu), a dedicated pupil and successor to the renowned Hiroshige I, the work captures the atmospheric mood of Night Rain at the Paulownia Grove at Akasaka. As part of this landmark series, it reflects the ukiyo-e tradition of documenting celebrated sites around the bustling capital, offering viewers a poetic glimpse into everyday life and seasonal beauty in what is now Tokyo. Executed as an *oban*-sized woodblock print, the medium allowed artists to achieve luminous colors and subtle gradations through multiple carved blocks—a technique that made such images widely accessible and affordable to the urban public. Hiroshige II carried forward his teacher’s mastery of landscape, using delicate lines and tonal washes to convey the quiet drama of rainfall at night. Today housed in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Arts of Asia collection, the print exemplifies the cultural importance of *meisho-e* (famous-place pictures) in shaping both Japanese identity and later Western appreciation for Japanese aesthetics.

About the Artist

Utagawa Hiroshige II (Shigenobu) · 1826–1869

Utagawa Hiroshige II, born Suzuki Chinpei in 1826, was one of the most accomplished ukiyo-e artists of mid-nineteenth century Japan. He entered the studio of the celebrated landscape master Utagawa Hiroshige I — known for his iconic series "The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido" — and proved himself the most talented of the elder artist's few students. So highly regarded was the young pupil that...