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
Montmartre
Woodblock print
Asa (Dawn)
Woodblock print
Ochanomizu
御茶ノ水
1956
Woodblock print
#38 Fukugawa Incinerator
Woodblock print
An00224774 001 L
Woodblock print
Sunset glow at Tsukishima
Woodblock print
Florence
Woodblock print
Rokko Mountains, Kobe
20th century
Color woodblock print
Sumida Koen
Woodblock print
Tempura Shops at Kagurazaka, from the series Tokyo fûkei hangashû, Taishô period, dated 1917
Woodblock print
Scenes of Last Tokyo
Woodblock print
Yokohama
1962
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Fujisawa
Woodblock print
Kanagawa
Woodblock print
Shinagawa
Woodblock print
Old Bookstore in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
1963
Woodblock print
Carriage Accident, Shôwa period, dated 1975
Woodblock print
Bath House
Woodblock print
Chrysanthemums, Hibiya Park
Woodblock print
Untitled (kazuma-oda)
Woodblock print
Hodogawa: 1942 Steam Engine No. D 51
Woodblock print
Hamamatsu: Factories in the MorningÅ
Woodblock print
Shinguka, Tokyo
Woodblock print
Okabe: High Speed Tunnel
Woodblock print
Nihon-Bashi
Woodblock print
Pigeons
c. 1900–1945
Woodblock print
Out for a walk
Woodblock print
New Yoshiwara (Shin Yoshiwara), from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital
early 1830s
color woodblock print
Shimada
Woodblock print
Kanagawa: Foreigner’s Cemetery
Woodblock print
Streetwalkers Taking a Break in Yoshida-machi, Honjo
January 1881
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Chōan Killing His Younger Brother at Fuda-no-Tsuji
1886
Woodblock print (nishiki-e) diptych; ink and color on paper
US Embassy in Japan
Woodblock print
Public Appearances of Shōgun
1897
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Famous places in Tokyo, Takanawa: Picture of . Complete picture of a steam locomotive and railroad
1871, 9th lunar month
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Ceremony of proclaiming the constitution, triptych, 1889
Woodblock print
Untitled (kazuma-oda)
Woodblock print
Yatozaka in Yokohama
Woodblock print
Session of the National Diet
1890 (Meiji 23)
Woodblock print (nishiki-e) triptych; ink and color on paper
Shinobazu ike
Woodblock print
Pines near Yotsuya Mitsuke
1920
Woodblock print
Untitled (kazuma-oda)
Woodblock print
Kyoto Shijo
Woodblock print
Roofs of Paris, 1956
Woodblock print
Meiji shoshi nenkai kiji
Woodblock print
Untitled (takashi-henmi)
Woodblock print
Railway Line at Takanawa (Takanawa tetsudō no zu)
Tenth month of 1871
Right sheet from a woodblock print (nishiki-e) triptych; ink and color on paper
No Series Yasaka Neighborhood
Woodblock print
Lyric Kyoto No. 2
1960
Color woodblock print
Tokyo Metro Library
Woodblock print
Tokyo Pleasures: Women in Western Dress
Woodblock print
Warehouses on a Promontory
Woodblock print
Untitled (kazuma-oda)
Woodblock print
Tokyo kaika meisho no uchi
Woodblock print
Soshu (Suzhou)
Woodblock print
Postal News
1875
Woodblock print
Kyoto Series, No. 22B
1962
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
April 10, Meiji 31: 30th. Anniversary Celebration of the Changing Name from Edo to Tokyo
Woodblock print
Tokyo Pleasures: Photographs
Woodblock print
Untitled (takashi-henmi)
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.