Famous Sites of Edo

Object Details

• Artist

  Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797-1858)

• Label

  The city of Edo (modern Tokyo) had grown by the early nineteenth century to a metropolis with a population of more than one million. The center of commerce and government administration under the Tokugawa shoguns, Edo was visited by many travelers and was the required residence in alternate years for the daimyo, the warrior rulers of provincial domains. The artist Hiroshige is primarily known as a designer of commercially published woodblock prints, the popular art of the Edo period (1615-1868).

  He produced many series of prints on the famous sites along the Tokaido, the great highway between Edo and Kyoto, the imperial capital. Later in life, he turned to the famous sites of the city of Edo, a popular subject that culminated in the print series One Hundred Famous Sites of Edo.

  In these screens, each panel has a separate painting that is mounted to one panel of the screen with a label identifying the scene.

• Provenance

  To 1903

  Bunshichi Kobayashi (circa 1861-1923), Boston, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Yokohama, to 1903 [1]

  From 1903 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunshichi Kobayashi in 1903 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Screen List, L. 79, pg. 21, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Hokusai: Mad About Painting (November 20, 2019 to January 9, 2022)

  Japanese Screens (March 2007 to January 3, 2016)

  Japanese Screens (February 11, 1983 to July 19, 1988)

  Japanese Screens (Narrative Subjects) (December 22, 1981 to February 10, 1983)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Kobayashi Bunshichi 小林文七 (ca. 1861-1923) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1700s, 1710s, 1720s, 1770s, 1780s, 1790s, 1730s, 1740s, 1750s, 1760s, 1800s, 1810s, 1820s, 1830s, 1610s, 1650s, 1640s, 1630s, 1620s, 1690s, 1840s, 1850s, 1680s, 1670s, 1860s, 1660s

• Name

  Kobayashi, Bunshichi, Freer, Charles Lang

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Boats and boating, Art, Snow, Moon, Outer space, Umbrellas, Ukiyo-e, Charles Lang Freer collection, Landscapes, Winter, Edo period, Japan, (1600 - 1868), Japanese Art, Cherry blossom

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings