The Outskirts of Koshigaya in Musashi Province (Musashi Koshigaya zai), from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fuji sanjurokkei)"
- Date:
- 1858
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; oban
- Source:
Issued in 1858 and held in the Art Institute of Chicago, this Edo [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) landscape print by Utagawa Hiroshige belongs to his late series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fuji sanjurokkei). The view depicts the rural outskirts of Koshigaya in Musashi Province, a flat agricultural region north of Edo on the route toward the Nikko Kaido. In the foreground, rice paddies extend in geometric strips, traversed by farmers on raised dikes; a stand of trees and a thatched farmhouse anchor the middle distance; and on the far horizon, the slender, snow-tipped cone of Mount Fuji rises against a graduated pink and pale blue sky. Hiroshige uses [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) printing to soften the transitions between the warm earthy tones of the paddies, the cool blues of distant fields, and the atmospheric gradient above. The print is characteristic of the series in its insistence that Fuji can be observed from utterly ordinary working landscapes, not only from celebrated viewpoints. By placing the sacred mountain at the far end of a humble Musashi rice plain, Hiroshige underlines the mountain's role as a constant, almost casual companion to everyday life in the Kanto plain. The composition stands among his most quietly democratic landscape print designs, balancing reverence for Fuji with affectionate attention to the rhythms of provincial agriculture.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
The Outskirts of Koshigaya in Musashi Province (Musashi Koshigaya zai), from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fuji sanjurokkei)" was created by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) in 1858.
The Outskirts of Koshigaya in Musashi Province (Musashi Koshigaya zai), from the series "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fuji sanjurokkei)" depicts landscapes and mount fuji.
