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
Old City in Kudara- Paekche- Korea
Woodblock print
Pine Avenue of Tsuda, near Matsue
1949
Color woodblock print
Rosette Quarter Panels
1930s
Woodblock print
Site of the Capital City of Ancient Paekche, Korea
1935
Color woodblock print
St. Luke’s Hospital in Tsukiji,from the series Scenes After theTokyo Earthquake
1925
Color woodblock print
The Kaminari Gate, Asakusa, from the series Scenes After the Tokyo Earthquake
1925
Color woodblock print
Ueno Park
1929
Color woodblock print
View of the Japanese Garden, from the series "Prints of the Shinjuku Imperial Garden (Shinjuku Gyoen hanga)"
1949
Color woodblock print
Akasaka: Lovesick cats
Woodblock print
Nihonbashi: Expressway
Woodblock print
A House in the City (Machi no ie), from the series "Manchuria (Manshu)"
1944 (printed c. 1950 from recut block?)
Color woodblock print; oban
Soil (9): Town in the Earth
1960
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
At Sand City Lovers Whisper at Dawn
Woodblock print
Snow Falling on Town
1966
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Kyoto: The Palace Wall and the Jômeimon Gate (Kyô, Tsukiji Jômeimon), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
Woodblock print
A Picture of Deep Snow at Tosho Shrine at Ueno
Woodblock print
A View Inside Ueno Park
Woodblock print
Ayase-gawa Asakusa-dera enkei / Musashi Hyakkei no uchi
Woodblock print
Building of Tokyo Daily Newspaper, Ginza, Tokyo, 1876
Woodblock print
Moon on a chilly night at Akashicho, Tsukiji — 築地明石町寒夜之月
Woodblock print
Shinbashi Stenshon (sic) (Shinbashi Station)
Woodblock print
Summer Night at Asakusa Kuramae
1881
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Tarö Inari Shrine at Asakusa Rice Fields
Woodblock print
Ueno Toshogu Sekisetsu no zu
Woodblock print
Horse Races by Shinobazu Pond, Ueno
Woodblock print
Meeting of the Red Cross Society: Her Majesty the Empress Travels to Ueno Park
Woodblock print
Sightseeing in Asakusa Park
Woodblock print
Touring Asakusa Park
Woodblock print
Triptych: Ueno Shinobazu Horserace
Meiji period, 1890
Woodblock-printed "ōban" triptych; ink and color on paper
Karasuma Street-Kyoto
1970
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Osaka City-Japan
1966
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Asakusa Festival (Asakusa matsuri), from the illustrated book "Picture Book of Amusements of the East (Ehon Azuma asobi)"
c. 1802
Color woodblock print; double-page illustration from book
Fujieda station on the Tokaido
c. 1796
Color woodblock print; surimono
Nihonbashi, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)
Woodblock print
Ochanomizu in Kanda Mojin Shrine
Woodblock print
Senju Hana-machi Yori Chobo no Fuji (Mount Fuji Seen from Senju Pleasure Quarter), from the series Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjurokkei)
Woodblock print
#10. Ueno
Woodblock print
#44. Akasaka
Woodblock print
Kanagawa, Inland Sea: Top of the Street
1797–1858
color woodblock print
Nihon Bridge: Morning Scene (Nihonbashi, asa no kei), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi)," also known as the Hoeido Tokaido
c. 1833/34
Color woodblock print; oban
![A Low Class Prostitute (Gun [teppo]), from the series “Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter" ("Hokkoku goshiki-zumi") by Kitagawa Utamaro](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/ed82be98-8a83-4163-ccc4-e2f7210cce55/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
A Low Class Prostitute (Gun [teppo]), from the series “Five Shades of Ink in the Northern Quarter" ("Hokkoku goshiki-zumi")
c. 1794/95
Color woodblock print; oban
Attacking a Korean city
Woodblock print
Yoshiwara Women Looking into the Street at Springtime
1753–1806
color woodblock print
Akasaka, Fujikawa, Okazaki, Chiryu, and Narumi, from the series "Famous Places on the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, Five Stations (Tokaido gojusan eki goshuku meisho)"
c. 1830/35
Color woodblock print; oban
Asakusa Imado, from the series "Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto Meisho)"
c. 1832/33
Color woodblock print; oban
Nihonbashi, Shinagawa, Kawasaki, and Kanagawa, from the series "Famous Places on the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, Four Stations (Tokaido gojusan eki yonshuku meisho)"
c. 1830/35
Color woodblock print; oban
Lantern Maker (Chôchinya), Taishô period, dated 1926
1926
Woodblock print
Shichijo, Shinchi, Kyoto
1976
Color woodblock print; edition 16/100
Afternoon Roofs
1996
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Ichiriki on Hanamikoji
1979
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Amino-Kyoto
1974
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Corner House-Fukuoka
1963
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Hiroshima
1964
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Clifton Karhu
1980
Woodblock print
Cloth Drying
1968
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Doorway in Kyoto
1971
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Place Vendome
description
Woodblock print
Nishijin Roofs
1983
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Near Chion-in
1985
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Muromachi Roofs
1978
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
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.