A Hundred Views of Musashi: A Hundred Posts in the Sumida River
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Edo-Tokyo Museum
- Image courtesy of
- Edo-Tokyo Museum
Description
From Kiyochika's landmark series documenting Meiji-era Tokyo, this print depicts a row of wooden pilings or mooring posts standing in the Sumida River, likely viewed at dusk or night when the artist's characteristic kosen-ga lighting effects could transform utilitarian infrastructure into atmospheric subject matter. Reflections on the river's surface would have allowed Kiyochika to employ graduated bokashi to render the shimmering interplay of light and water. The Sumida served as Tokyo's commercial artery, and industrial elements such as these posts appear throughout the series as markers of a city in transition. The oban-format composition foregrounds the rhythmic repetition of vertical forms against an expansive sky, a structural device Kiyochika used to create depth without strict Western perspective.
More Prints by Kobayashi Kiyochika
More Landscapes Prints
Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Autumn Maple Leaves at Takao, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei)
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The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"
1934
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Tea Kettle, section of a sheet from the series "Mirror of Stone Rubbings of Views of the Provinces" (Kohon meihitsu ishizuri kagami)
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
A Hundred Views of Musashi: A Hundred Posts in the Sumida River was created by Kobayashi Kiyochika (小林清親).
A Hundred Views of Musashi: A Hundred Posts in the Sumida River depicts landscapes.