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- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Image courtesy of
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Description
A print from Kiyochika's mature period, this work reflects his refined understanding of how Western lighting effects could be translated into the technical constraints of the woodblock medium. The composition probably places a specific Tokyo view — identified in contemporary publishing records by its location in the city — within a dramatic light context that transforms the familiar scene. Kiyochika's publisher Fukuda Kumajirō issued the bulk of his urban landscape series, and the prints were sold in sets that collectively described the new Tokyo geography. The [oban](/glossary/oban) format used for most of these compositions provided a generous field for the atmospheric treatment of sky and water that distinguished the series.