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「武藏百景之内」 「隅田川水神森」 by Kobayashi Kiyochika — Japanese Woodblock print

「武藏百景之内」 「隅田川水神森」

by Kobayashi Kiyochika

Medium:
Woodblock print
Image courtesy of
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Description

This print from the Musashi Hyakkei series depicts Suijin no Mori (Water God Forest) on the Sumida River, a grove surrounding a small Shinto shrine to the water deity located on the east bank of the river in the Mukojima district. The shrine and its surrounding trees formed a distinctive wooded mass visible from the water, associated with prayers for safe river passage. Kiyochika's composition likely sets the dense tree canopy against a sky treated with bokashi gradation, with the river surface in the foreground reflecting the scene's tonal values. The Sumida's east bank — including Mukojima, Matsuchiyama, and the Sumida Park area — appears repeatedly in both his early kōsen-ga and the later Musashi series, reflecting his deep familiarity with this stretch of the river.

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Frequently Asked Questions

「武藏百景之内」 「隅田川水神森」 was created by Kobayashi Kiyochika (小林清親).