Kasumigaseki
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Typical Price
- Later reprint (Meiji–Taisho era publishers): $50–$400
- Good later impression (Edo-period): $1,000–$5,000
- Good early impression (vivid color, fine bokashi): $5,000–$20,000
- Fine early impression (exceptional color and condition): $20,000–$60,000
Hiroshige produced an estimated 8,000 designs over his 40-year career, making him one of the most prolific masters of ukiyo-e. His market has strengthened significantly in recent years, with the 2025 Sotheby's Paris record of $2.4M and growing international collector interest.
Description
Kasumigaseki — "Misty Barrier" — was a district in central Edo near the shogun's castle, named for the atmospheric mist that often gathered there. Hiroshige's print captures the area's distinctive character: broad roads lined with daimyo estates and government buildings, the kind of formal, ordered urban landscape that contrasted sharply with the lively merchant quarters along the Sumida.
More Prints by Utagawa Hiroshige
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
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Kasumigaseki was created by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重).
Kasumigaseki depicts urban scenes and landscapes.