The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

Night Rain at the Azuma Shrine (from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo)

mid-1830s

Utagawa Hiroshige

(Japanese, 1797–1858)
Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)
color woodblock print
Sheet: 21.6 x 34.4 cm (8 1/2 x 13 9/16 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Henry S. Upson 1942.145
Location: Not on view

Description

Here Hiroshige reinterprets the traditional Chinese poetic and artistic theme of Eight Views of Xiaoxiang, a scenic region in southeast China. Inspired by “rain at night on the Xiaoxiang,” Hiroshige instead places travelers near Azuma Jinja Shrine in an Edo (present-day Tokyo) suburb.

Synthetic blue pigment, imported from the West and wildly popular in the early 1800s, adds vibrancy to the muted landscape. Thin, ruler-straight diagonal lines of white ink evoke the driving rain.
  • ?–1942
    Mrs. Henry S. [Mary Louisa Southworth] Upson [1859–1944], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1942–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Hollis, Howard. "Upson Gift to the Oriental Department." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 30, no. 6 (June 1943): 100–101. Mentioned: p. 101 www.jstor.org
  • Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 30, 2018-January 6, 2019).
  • {{cite web|title=Night Rain at the Azuma Shrine (from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo)|url=false|author=Utagawa Hiroshige|year=mid-1830s|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.145