Hiroshige II's series 'Eight Views of the Sumida River (Sumida-gawa hakkei)' (1861)

Introduction

This page attempts to catalog all known prints in Hiroshige II's series 'Sumida-gawa hakkei (隅田川 八 景 - Eight Views of the Sumida River)'.

The series title is in the rectangular cartouche in the top right corner; the title of each individual print is in the fan-shaped cartouche to its left.

The series dates from the middle of Hiroshige II's career, when he was about thirty-five years old. At this point, he was using the name 'Hiroshige', since his master Hiroshige I had died (in 1858), and Hiroshige II had taken over the gō 'Hiroshige'; the prints in this series are signed 'Hiroshige'.

Formalized series of landscape views on eight particular themes of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, the rivers and wetlands around Lake Donting, developed in Eleventh Century China. The idea was imported to Japan along with much else from Chinese culture; series on this theme appear throughout Japanese woodblocks. The eight themes were descending geese, returning sails, clearing mist, twilight snow, autumn moon, night rain, vesper bells, and evening glow; all eminently suited to evocative landscape images. 



Technical details










The Prints


To see a larger, roughly full-screen, image of any print, please click on the
thumbnail; these images are sized to produce fine detail, and are only moderately
compressed.








Images
Number
Date
Title (Kanji)
Title (Romaji)
Title (English)
Description








#1
1861/11
白髯 落雁

Shirahige (no) rakugan
Descending Geese at Shirahige

  






#2
1861/11
吾妻橋 帰帆
Azuma-bashi (no) kihan
Returning Sails at Azuma Bridge

  






#3
1861/11
関屋 の 里 晴嵐
Sekiya no sato (no) seiran

Clearing Weather at Sekiya Village

  






#4
1861/11
橋場 暮雪
Hashiba (no) bosetsu
Twilight Snow at Hashiba

  






#5
1861/11
真乳山 秋月
Matsuchi-yama (no) shūgetsu
Autumn Moon at Matsuchi Hill

  






#6
1861/11
枕はし夜 雨
Makura-bashi (no) yau / Yanagi-bashi (no) yau
Night Rain at Makura Bridge / Night Rain at Yanagi Bridge
Sources differ on the title
  






#7
1861/11
長命寺 晩渉

Chōmei-ji (no) banshō
Evening Bell at Chōmei Temple
The shō in banshō is normally written with the character 
  鐘; although since the caption is written in
  gyōsho,
  the identification of exactly which character has been used is not entirely certain.
  
   
  






#8
1861/11
三囲堤 夕照
Mimeguri-zutsumi (no) sekishō
Sunset Glow at Mimeguri Embankment

  













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© Copyright 2009 by J. Noel Chiappa



Last updated: 25/June/2009