Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重, Process of Woodcut Printing: Shōno Station from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road
Hokusai’s Great Wave may be the most well-known landscape of the Ukiyo-e prints across the world, but it is not the best one representing the Japanese sentiment on nature. Hiroshige, whose intelligent design and subtle use of colours have secured him as one of the best Ukiyo-e artists in Japan, was in a certain sense better than Hokusai in creating the atmospheric effect. (1)
Utagawa Hiroshige, Sudden Shower at Shōno, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (original c. 1833-34), colour woodblock print, 25 x 37 cm, reproduction from Mokuhanga junjosuri (Process of wood-cut printing), by Watanabe hanga ten, 1910s. Source: University of Melbourne, East Asian Collection.
This reproduction from his most famous series, Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, has proved this. The scene depicts travellers caught in a sudden downpour. The specialty of this reproduction is that it demonstrates the process of making the print, an element often escaping the researchers’ notice when they look at the finished work. Colours of each block were applied to the line design produced by the first block, in an order based on the levels of lightness and hue of each colour, starting from the pinkish flesh to the bright dark blue robes and leggings worn by the travellers, finishing with the rain and the dark sky. Altogether fifteen blocks were used to produce this one single print. The process of applying different blocks offers another perspective in understanding Hiroshige’s design, especially his use of the basic colours to form a complement to the whole picture and the use of various shades of grey and black to create the shadows and supplement element of the rain that were not shown on the first line block.
One element that Hiroshige excelled in is using lines to show different styles of rain. He creatively changed the spacing and colour of lines to give the rain its unique feature. Sometimes for heavy rain, he even used two blocks to enhance the density of the shower. (2) In this reproduction, the shower lines have varied strength and spacings. To enhance it, the wind implied by the shadows in the background and the dark sky overhead also bring out the chilliness of the storm from the scene. Though there are no details of the raindrops, the atmospheric effect created here perfectly echoes the title ‘White Rain’, a heavy shower with raindrops like white pearls. This particular sensual feeling could only be gained when looking through the process of applying colour blocks. It gives a fuller understanding of Hiroshige’s combination of lines and colours. This special reproduction, one of such rare materials, offers an enriched research experience into the depth of Ukiyo-e print making.
By Shiqiu Liu
Notes
1. Nagai Kafū, Kyoko Selden and Alisa Freedman, “Ukiyo-e Landscapes and Edo Scenic Places (1914),” Review of Japanese Culture and Society, vol. 24, 2012, 218.
2. アダチセレクト「話題の一枚。」歌川広重「大はしあたけの夕立」vol.3, 2014.06.21, from https://www.adachi-hanga.com/staffblog/000631/, accessed 2020.10.10