Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige December of 1852 (Kaei 5), Publisher: Sanoki, one of the series of thirty-six This work is from the series of Tirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji, and this is the one of the thirty six series. The impressive composition of Mt. Fuji is illustrated. Mt. Fuji covered with the white snow is situated between Koyurugi cape and Enoshima Island, appears among the exaggeratedly wild waves of a windy day across the Shichiri-ga-hama Beach. The high tides that create the strong crash of foams are contrasted with the tranquility of Mt. Fuji. The flock of bird flies across the sky that is vaguely colored in scarlet. It is considered the scenery of Shichiri-ga-hama Beach from Inamura-ga-saki cape. Hiroshige situated the lower viewpoint in order to emphasis the high tides of the waves. Beside of this series, there is a series “Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji” that deals with the views of Mt. Fuji, published in his latest year in 1859 (Ansei 6). Utagawa Hiroshige Kansei 9~Ansei 5 (1799~1858) Hiroshige was a pupil of Utagawa Toyohiro. He also studied varieties of painting styles from Kano school, nan-ga (southern Chinese painting style), and Shijō school. He was active as an ukiyo-e artist from Bunsei 1 to his death (1818~1858). He first produced pictures of beautiful women, Kabuki actors and worriers, but from the Tempō era he was acknowledged as a leading landscape artist. He published many pictures of famous places such as the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido”. Hiroshige’s the other fortes were kachoga (picture of birds and flowers) and animal pictures.

Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847 - 1915) Production date:1896 Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847 - 1915) was known as the Hiroshige of the Meiji era. He developed anoriginal method of depiction he dubbed kosenga (light-ray pictures) that were an eclectic fusion of photographs, Western-style painting (Yoga), and Japanese-style painting (Nihonga). Kiyochika’s Views of Famous Places in Japan series was published in 1896 - 1897, and depicted noted sights from all parts of Japan. It was produced about 20 years after he began to make prints, and not long after the first Sino-Japanese War (1894 - 1895). In this work, the black shade in the vicinity of Enoshima alone is lighter than the black in other parts of the picture. Kiyochika presumably took aim at instilling the figure of Enoshima with a softer look by thinning its outlines, and thereby inducing an effect that would make it look more distant.