One Hundred Famous Views of Edo · Utagawa Hiroshige, 1857
Sudden Shower over Shin-Ōhashi Bridge and Atake
Van Gogh copied this print.
The Work
A sudden evening shower sweeps over the Shin-Ōhashi Bridge on the Sumida River.
Look Closer
Every streak of rain was carved into the woodblock. The far bank fades into shadow behind it.
The Artist
Hiroshige rose to fame with the Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō; he made this print in his sixties.
The Artist
He died the next year, in 1858, aged 61 (62 by Japanese count) — possibly in the cholera epidemic that struck Edo.
Edo at the Time
Perry's Black Ships arrived in 1853; by 1858 Japan had signed a trade treaty with the US. Edo was changing fast.
Culture & Values
The summer shower was a beloved seasonal theme — people caught in the rain appear again and again in haiku and prints.
Meanwhile, in the World
In 1857, Baudelaire published Les Fleurs du mal in France, and a great rebellion broke out in India.
Afterward
In 1887 Van Gogh copied this one too — Edo rain that crossed the sea.
Listen while you look
This print stays on screen for about ten minutes in the full hour, with Rain On Ohashi Bridge and Umbrellas In The Shower.
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