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
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Kanda Myojin Shrine
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Kinokuni Hill, Akasaka
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Kuramae Street, Asakusa
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Nakamise Shops, Asakusa
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Night View of Shinbashi Station
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Night View of Sujikai Street
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Shinzaka Hill, Ueno
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Taro Inari Shrine in Asakusa-tanbo
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: The Destruction of Hisamatsucho in a Fire that Started in Kanda
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: The Naval Ministry, Tsukiji
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: The Temporary Palace at Akasaka
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: The Ueno Mausoleum
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: Toshogu Shrine, Ueno
Woodblock print
True Pictures of Famous Places in Tokyo: View of Shin-Yoshiwara Licensed Quarter
Woodblock print
Ueno koenchi
Woodblock print
Ueno Park, from
Woodblock print
HUKURYOKU (a Kyoto street)
Woodblock print
KURASHIKI-NO-ROJI (Street in Kurashiki)
Woodblock print
City Light
Not set
Woodblock print
The Willow Tree at the Gate of Shimabara Pleasure Quarter (Shimabara deguchi no yanagi), from the series “Famous Views of Kyoto (Kyoto meisho no uchi)"
c. 1834
Color woodblock print; oban
Asakusa
Woodblock print
Nihonbashi
c. 1914–1916
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Nihonbashi (Japan Bridge) / Tokyo junikei (Twelve Views of Tokyo)
Woodblock print
Twelve Views of Tokyo: Asakusa
Woodblock print
Rainy Street of Kyoto
Woodblock print
Hakuho Castle, Ueno, Iga (Iga Ueno Hakuhojo)
Iga Ueno Hakuhojo
1951
Color woodblock print
No Series A Town As The Moon Is Rising Over The Mountains
Woodblock print
Night street scene
Woodblock print
Street Scene at the End of the Year
Woodblock print
Cryptomeria Avenue
1937
Color woodblock print
Evening in Nara, from the series "Kansai District"
1933
Color woodblock print
Hanzakari - Avenue of Cherry Trees in Full Bloom, from the series "Eight Scenes of Cherry Trees"
1935
Color woodblock print
City View of Bridge and Willows
Not set
Woodblock print
Night Scene of Kiyamachi Street
Not set
Woodblock print
Rainy Street of Kyoto
Not set
Woodblock print
Theatre Street, Yokohama
1909
Color woodcut
Boston's Beacon Street
Woodblock print
Bottle with Lemon and Quarter Lemon
1983
Mezzotint
Diary: Feb. 9th, '84, in Ueno
1984
Woodblock and silkcreen print
Diary: Nov. 24th '98, in Ueno Park (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
Seconhand bookstores St. KANDA (One Hundred Views of Tokyo, Message to the 21st Century 東京百景 21世紀へのメッセジ)
1995
Spring's 4-Chome 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
Color woodblock print
Peasant Girl on Street
Woodblock print
Shinbashi Station 70 Years Ago
Woodblock print
Asakusa Kannon-do
Woodblock print
Kanda Matsuri
Woodblock print
Geisha and Cherry Tree - Ueno Park
Woodblock print
Street Scene, Soochow in Kiang-su
Woodblock print
Ancient City, Nara
1954
Color woodblock print; edition 18/100
Asakusa Kannon Hall, from the series Recollections of Tokyo
1945
Color woodblock print
Street, road, village
Woodblock print
![Title unknown [Street with White Wall Houses] by Saito Kiyoshi](https://1.api.artsmia.org/800/97212.jpg)
Title unknown [Street with White Wall Houses]
late 20th century
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Ginza no tasogare-doki (Dusk in Ginza) / Fujisawa mokuhan karendaa (Fujisawa Woodblock Print Calendar, 1949)
Woodblock print
Greenhouse, from the series "Prints of the Shinjuku Imperial Garden (Shinjuku Gyoen hanga)"
1949
Color woodblock print
Taiwan Pavilion, from the series "Prints of the Shinjuku Imperial Garden (Shinjuku Gyoen hanga)"
1949
Color woodblock print
Tokyo Station, from the series Recollections of Tokyo
1945
Color woodblock print
Ueno Zoo, from the series Recollections of Tokyo
1945
Color woodblock print
Akasaka Palace, from the series Recollections of Tokyo
1929
Color woodblock print
Kawaguchi Lake Shore in Koshu District (Koshu Kawaguchi kohan)
1930
Woodblock print
Night at Nihonbashi Bridge (Tokyo)
1946
Color 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.