Evening Snow at Asuka Hill, from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo (c. 1837–38): Art, History and Details

Evening Snow at Asuka Hill, from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo (c. 1837–38) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This print series was first privately produced for the Taihaidō poetry club led by a “wild” or comic verse (kyōka) poet with the humorous pen name Taihaidō Donshō (or Nomimasu), which translates to “Hall of the Large Cup, Swallow a Liter (or Drink).” The initial print had three poems by members of the club at the top. This print, released as part of a public set of the series later on, has but a single poem, not featured in the original, which reads: The snow falling heavily in the dusk not only covers up signs that warn against breaking branches of the cherry trees on Asuka Hill, but breaks down the branches, as well. It is signed Shōyōan Kōjin (or Takahito), which means “Hermitage of Pine and Cherry, High Person.”

Object facts

• Title: Evening Snow at Asuka Hill, from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo
• Date: c. 1837–38
• Creator attribution: Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858)
• Culture: Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
• Type: Print
• Technique: color woodblock print
• Dimensions: Sheet: 22 x 34.4 cm (8 11/16 x 13 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Japanese Art
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1940.983

Collection credit

Bequest of James Parmelee

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hollis, Howard. "The Bequest of James Parmelee." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 28, no. 2 (February 1941): 15–27.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.