The Kawaguchi Ferry and Zenkoji Temple, No. 20 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
Utagawa Hiroshige
Asian Art
This scene portrays the northernmost limit of Edo depicted in the series: the Kawaguchi Ferry across the Sumida River, known as the Arakawa River in its upper reaches. The ferry is barely visible to the lower right, with the ferryman sculling a group of passengers to an unseen landing on the far side. Rafts of lumber are being poled upstream, contrary to the normal transport pattern for lumber. Hiroshige was clearly more concerned with the subtle interplay of varied diagonal shapes than with economic geography.
MEDIUM
Woodblock print
DATES
2nd month of 1857
PERIOD
Edo Period, Ansei Era
DIMENSIONS
Image: 13 3/8 x 9 in. (34 x 22.9 cm)
Sheet: 14 3/16 x 9 1/4 in. (36 x 23.5 cm) (show scale)
MARKINGS
No publisher's date or censor's seal visible, probably lost when left edge was trimmed.
SIGNATURE
Hiroshige-ga
COLLECTIONS
Asian Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
30.1478.20
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Anna Ferris
PROVENANCE
Prior to 1930, provenance not yet documented; by 1930, acquired by Anna Ferris of Summit, NJ; 1930, gift of Anna Ferris to the Brooklyn Museum.
Provenance FAQ
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION
Scene of the Kawaguchi Ferry across the Arakawa River and Zenkoji Temple on the other side, half hidden by the title cartouche to the upper right. This temple was renowned for the practice of the periodic unveiling of its main image of Amida, which tended to rotate every seventeenth year, in the case of Kawaguchi's Zenkoji, and had been approved to start early in the Third Month of 1858 and was to last for sixty days. In those two months the normally quiet temple seen here would have been transformed into a booming entertainment village, with sideshows, acrobats and legal gambling. Scene shows rafts of lumber being poled upstream (contrary to the normal transport of lumber).
EXHIBITIONS
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858). The Kawaguchi Ferry and Zenkoji Temple, No. 20 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 2nd month of 1857. Woodblock print, Image: 13 3/8 x 9 in. (34 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.20 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 30.1478.20_PS20.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 30.1478.20_PS20.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023
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