Urban Scenes Prints (722)
Urban scenes document the cities and towns of Japan through the lens of woodblock printmaking, capturing architecture, street life, commercial activity, and the evolving character of Japanese urban spaces across four centuries. The genre reflects Japan's transformation from a feudal society of castle towns to one of the world's most densely urbanized nations. Edo (modern Tokyo) was the original subject of urban-scene prints, with artists like Hiroshige documenting its bridges, markets, temples, and pleasure quarters in series such as "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo." These prints served both as artistic compositions and as practical guides for residents and travelers, recording neighborhoods that would later be transformed by modernization, fire, and earthquake. The Meiji era brought dramatic new urban subjects — railway stations, brick buildings, gas lamps, and Western-dressed pedestrians — as artists documented Japan's rapid transformation. Shin-hanga artists like Hasui and Koitsu later turned to older streetscapes, capturing traditional architecture and nighttime atmospheres threatened by modernization. Their prints of temple gates, canal-side houses, and lantern-lit streets became nostalgic records of a disappearing Japan, prized today as much for their documentary value as their artistic merit.
Artists Known for Urban Scenes
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
Tōshōgū in Ueno
1930s
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Light Snow at Demachi District
出町小雪
Woodblock print
Clearing after a Snowfall at the Kannon Temple in Asakusa (Asakusa Kannon no yukibare), from the series "Twenty Views of Tokyo (Tokyo nijukkei)"
1926
Color woodblock print; oban
Akasaka
c. 1914–1916
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Kanda Myojin Shrine Precent, from the series "Twenty Views of Tokyo" (Tokyo nijukei, Kanda Myojin keidai)
1926
Color woodblock print
Kiyomizu Hall, Ueno, from the series "Twenty Views of Tokyo" (Tokyo nijukei, Ueno Kiyomizudo)
1928
Color woodblock print
Kiyamachi Street, Kyoto
木屋町
ca. 1950s
Woodblock print
Meiji juyonnen ichigatsu ni juroku-nichi shukka Hama-cho yori utsushita Ryogoku taika
Woodblock print
The house at down town
1974
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Kikuzaka Street
Woodblock print
Morning of New Year's Day in Ginza
Woodblock print
Fortune Teller, Shôwa period, dated 1957
Woodblock print
Shinjuku - Tokyo at Night
Woodblock print
The Kanda Myojin Shrine
1785-1787
Ginza Fantasy (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century 東京百景 21世紀へのメッセジ)
1989-99
Rain at Nihonbashi Bridge (Nihonbashi no hakuu), from the series "Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho)"
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Snow at Tosho Shrine, Ueno (Ueno Toshogu no yuki)
July 1929
Color woodblock print
Hibiya Park and City Hall
Woodblock print
Asakusa Temple
Woodblock print
Cherry Blossoms at the Tôshôgû Shrine in Ueno (Sakura, Ueno Tôshôgû)
Woodblock print
Great Lantern at the Asakusa Kannondo
Woodblock print
Haru no yuki - Asakusa Torigoe jinja (Spring Snow - The Torigoe Shrine at Asakusa)
Woodblock print
Old Town on a Wintry Night (guzhen xueye)
1998
Woodcut printed with oil-based ink
Lantern at Asakusa
Woodblock print
Rainy Evening at Yanaka, Tokyo
Woodblock print
Shrine at Ueno, Tokyo
Woodblock print
Town of Shimoda
Woodblock print
A beauty in Shintomi-cho district
Woodblock print
Asakusa Temple at Night
浅草寺の夜
c. 1917
Lithograph
Shimbashi Station
新橋ステーション
c. 1916
Lithograph
Street Vendor
行商人
c. 1940
Color woodblock print
Akashi-chō in Tsukiji
1931
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Three-quarter length portrait of a bijin beside a river
Not set
Woodblock print
Evening at Ueno Park
Woodblock print
Asakusa Kinryuzan
Woodblock print
Ginza at Night, from the series Recollections of Tokyo
1945
Color woodblock print
Great Lantern at Asakusa Temple
Woodblock print
Black night-Ginza (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century 東京百景 21世紀へのメッセジ)
1989-99
Kiyomizudo In Ueno — 上野清水道
Woodblock print
Rain at Asakusa Kannon Temple
1933
Color woodblock print
Rainy Evening at Ginza
Woodblock print
Nihonbashi Bridge
Woodblock print
Scenes Of Tokyo Views Asakusa Temple
Woodblock print
Ten Views of Tokyo, AKASAKA MITSUKE
Woodblock print
Ueno Park — 上野公園
Woodblock print
Crytomeria Avenue
after 1937
Color woodblock print
Twelve Scenes of Tokyo: Kagurazaka Street after a Night Rain
after 1929
Color woodblock print
Spring Snow at Hamacho Park in Nihonbashi (Nihonbashi-ku Hamacho koen shunsetsu) from the series "One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era (Showa dai Tokyo fukei hyaku zue hanga)"
1940
Color woodblock print; oban
Asakusa Kanzeon Temple
1932
Color woodblock print
Bar Bacchus in Ginza, from the series Pictures of Ginza, First Series
January 1929
Color lithograph
Bar Sourire, no. 3 from the series Pictures of Ginza, Second Series
1929
Color lithograph
Shinjuku Station (Shinjuku eki), from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Ueno Park
1926
Color woodblock print
Cryptomeria Avenue (Later printing by Toshi Yoshida)
1937
Woodblock print
Kagurazaka Street after a Night Rain
after 1929
Color woodblock print
Kikuzaka Street
1939
Woodblock print
Related Subjects
Frequently Asked Questions
Urban scenes document the cities and towns of Japan through the lens of woodblock printmaking, capturing architecture, street life, commercial activity, and the evolving character of Japanese urban spaces across four centuries. The genre reflects Japan's transformation from a feudal society of castle towns to one of the world's most densely urbanized nations.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Inoue Yasuji, and Oda Kazuma are among the artists most associated with urban scenes in our collection. Browse the full list of artists who explored this subject above.
Hanga currently catalogues 722 prints tagged with urban scenes, spanning ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and sōsaku-hanga traditions where applicable.