from the series A Collection of Plays Old and New (Kokon Jōruri zukushi)

This sheet from Utagawa Hiroshige's series A Collection of Plays Old and New (Kokon Joruri zukushi) sits at the boundary between Edo ukiyo-e landscape print and theatrical illustration. Joruri, the chanted narrative music that accompanied bunraku puppet theatre and certain kabuki styles, was inseparable from the broader culture of Edo entertainment, and a series surveying old and new plays gave Hiroshige room to imagine settings associated with famous theatrical works. The composition uses landscape and architectural backdrops, drawn from the meisho repertoire that Hiroshige had perfected elsewhere, as containers for theatrical references, with small figures or stage motifs cuing the relevant play. The format encourages a more decorative, almost emblematic approach than the strictly topographical landscape print, but the Hiroshige hand is clear in the disciplined silhouette work, the controlled palette, and the deliberate use of bokashi to indicate weather and time of day. The Harvard Art Museums impression preserves the careful balance of color blocks and the crisp keyblock printing that allowed the small theatrical references to read against the larger setting.