Meiji juyonnen ichigatsu ni juroku-nichi shukka Hama-cho yori utsushita Ryogoku taika
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- British Museum
- Image courtesy of
- British Museum
Description
The full title translates roughly as 'The great Ryōgoku fire, as viewed from Hamacho, on the twenty-sixth day of the first month of Meiji 14' (1881). Fire prints—kaika-e recording major urban conflagrations—were a significant subgenre of Meiji woodblock publishing, and Kiyochika's training in Western light effects made him particularly well suited to rendering the dramatic nocturnal spectacle of a large fire. This oban composition likely shows the Ryōgoku district consumed by orange and red flames reflected off the Sumida River, with silhouetted bridges and buildings framing the blaze. The precise date in the title underscores the documentary intent. Kiyochika produced several fire prints during this period that stand among his most technically ambitious works, achieving luminous intensity through layered pigments on dampened washi.
More Prints by Kobayashi Kiyochika
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Frequently Asked Questions
Meiji juyonnen ichigatsu ni juroku-nichi shukka Hama-cho yori utsushita Ryogoku taika was created by Kobayashi Kiyochika (小林清親).
Meiji juyonnen ichigatsu ni juroku-nichi shukka Hama-cho yori utsushita Ryogoku taika depicts urban scenes, rivers & lakes, and night scenes.