Urban Scenes Prints (704)
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
Tsukudajima
Woodblock print
Tepposu Inari
Woodblock print
Shiba
Woodblock print
Takanawa
Woodblock print
Gotenyama
Woodblock print
Akibasan
Woodblock print
Megurofudo
Woodblock print
Akabane
Woodblock print
Atagoyama
Woodblock print
Aoizaka
Woodblock print
Sannogongen
Woodblock print
Isunohaza
Woodblock print
Yushima
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Asukayama Hill
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Dokanyama Hill
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Susaki
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Koume
Woodblock print
Hibiya Concert Hall (Shin Tokyo hyakkei)
Woodblock print
Roofs of Paris
Woodblock print
Sukiyabashi (Scenes of Last Tokyo)
Woodblock print
Shitaya, Twelve Views of Tokyo
Woodblock print
Old City Stepping Stones
1954
Color woodblock print
Desert Ginza
Drypoint
Memory-96-VI (Shinjuku Subcenter) (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century)
1999
Etching, aquatint, and collagraph
The Distant View of the Shinjuku-city
Etching, aquatint, and photoetching
Transposition '90-Ground-Ueno
Copper print on paper
Kamikawa Town, Hokaido
2009
Type-c print
Shibata City, Nigata Prefecture
2017
Type-c print
Shibata City, Niigata Prefecture
2017
Gelatin silver contact print on baryta paper.
The Inner Hall of Asakusa Kannon/浅草観世音の内堂
1932
Woodblock Print
City reflection
2024
Woodblock, Japanese mokuhange woodblock print
Asakusa Rose
2022
Collage
Ueno Park 2
2022
Archival digital print
Two Crows on a Branch Overlooking Asakusa at Dawn
1883
Hanging scroll: ink and color on silk
Night at Nihonbashi
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Shinbashi Station
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
"Some Town without a Name" - Signed Screen Print
1969
Screenprint on Laid Paper
City Sea
Mokuhanga on tulip wood
Great lantern at Asakusa Kannondo
1934
Woodblock Print
Pagoda in Evening Rain (Yanaka, Tokyo)/雨に暮れるる塔
1932
Woodblock Print
Sakura Ueno Shrine
1935
Woodblock Print
Diary: Nov. 24th, ‘98, in Ueno Park
1998
Woodcut and silkscreen, printed in colors
Diary: Nov. 24th, ‘98, in Ueno Park,
1998
Woodcut and silkscreen, FTG 398.
Photo Respiration City Scape #374
1999
Archival pigment print
David Lindo, Urban Birder on Tower 42
Eleanor Street
bank on main street spitzack woodblock woodcut mokuhanga print printmaking washi seattle art
Paris Street Scene
Woodblock print
Soil 9. Chisa no Machi. Town in the Earth.
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Kuramae Street
Woodblock print
![Funabashi [in Chiba, Shimosa District, from the series Japan Scenery Prints (Nihon fûkei hanga)?], Taishô period, circa 1917 by Ishii Hakutei](https://data.ukiyo-e.org/harvard/images/HUAM-VRS17402.jpg)
Funabashi [in Chiba, Shimosa District, from the series Japan Scenery Prints (Nihon fûkei hanga)?], Taishô period, circa 1917
Woodblock print
Asakusa rokku (Sixth District of Asakusa) / Shin Tokyo hyakkei (One Hundred New Views of Tokyo, No. 67)
Woodblock print
Tokyo City
2024
Mezzotint and collage with gold leaf and hand-coloring
HANAMIKOJI (Hanamikoji Street)
Woodblock print
Horikawa Street
Woodblock print
Street in Kumakawa, Fukui Pref.
Woodblock print
Collection of scenic views of Japan II, Kansai edition: Soemoncho District in Osaka (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen: Osaka Soemon-cho no yu)
Woodblock print
Kawanishi Town, Tochigi
Woodblock print
Nakayamahichiri in Hida district
Woodblock print
Nishi Park in Fukuoka District — 福岡西公園
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 704 prints tagged with urban scenes, spanning ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and sōsaku-hanga traditions where applicable.