UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE / 歌川 広重 (1797-1858),
Mount Oyama (1,252 m - 4,108 ft)
Japan
In Mount Oyama from Series Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces, 1853, woodblock,
34.29 cm x 23.02 cm, The San Diego Museum of Art
Hiroshige started the series in the seventh month of Kaei 6 (Sept 1853) and completed it in the third month of Ansei 3 (May 1856). The first 42 prints were completed and published in 1853.
Thereafter, Hiroshige slowed down the pace of publishing: Buzen Province, listed as the 61st print, was issued in 1854; another seventeen were published in the 9th month of 1855; and the final nine prints in the third to fifth months of 1856.
A contents page was also published in 1856 after the final prints; The ordering of the prints on the contents page differs slightly from the actual print publication ordering. The new ordering on the contents page grouped the prints according to the 8 travel routes in Old Japan.
Hiroshige based many of his designs on old Japanese guidebooks called meishō zue. In particular, at least 26 of the designs are believed to have been based on drawings from the 8 volume series of guidebooks called Sansui Kikan (Exceptional Mountain and Water Landscapes) written and illustrated by Fuchigami Kyokkō published from 1800-1802. As well as several from drawings in the early volumes of the Hokusai Manga series.
A contents page was also published in 1856 after the final prints; The ordering of the prints on the contents page differs slightly from the actual print publication ordering. The new ordering on the contents page grouped the prints according to the 8 travel routes in Old Japan.
Hiroshige based many of his designs on old Japanese guidebooks called meishō zue. In particular, at least 26 of the designs are believed to have been based on drawings from the 8 volume series of guidebooks called Sansui Kikan (Exceptional Mountain and Water Landscapes) written and illustrated by Fuchigami Kyokkō published from 1800-1802. As well as several from drawings in the early volumes of the Hokusai Manga series.
The mountain
Mount Ōyama also Mount Afuri or Mount Kunimi (1,252 - 4,108 ft) mountain situated on the border of Isehara, Hadano and Atsugi in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Together with Mount Tanzawa and other mountains in the Tanzawa Mountains it forms the Tanzawa-Ōyama Quasi-National Park. Mount Ōyama is a popular sightseeing spot in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Mount Ōyama has long been regarded as a holy mountain and object of worship. Religiously motivated mountain climbing has been practiced since the Hōreki era (1751–1764) and the various paths leading there were called Ōyama Kaidō . Today this name survives as the pseudonym of Route 246.
At the top of the mountain is the head office of the Ōyama-Afuri Shrine . Lower down the mountain is the lower shrine and the Ōyama-dera. Afuri refers to the high amount of rain and clouds associated with the mountain. Farmers pray at Ōyama-Afuri Shrine to the rain god.
The mountain is also known as the Guardian of the Land (Kunimi-yama).
The artist
Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重), also know as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his landscapes, such as the series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (see above) and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō; and for his depictions of birds and flowers. The subjects of his work were atypical of the ukiyo-e genre, whose typical focus was on beautiful women, popular actors, and other scenes of the urban pleasure districts of Japan's Edo period (1603–1868). The popular Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji series by Hokusai was a strong influence on Hiroshige's choice of subject, though Hiroshige's approach was more poetic and ambient than Hokusai's bolder, more formal prints.
Hiroshige produced over 8,000 works
He dominated landscape printmaking with his unique brand of intimate, almost small-scale works compared against the older traditions of landscape painting descended from Chinese landscape painters such as Sesshu. The travel prints generally depict travelers along famous routes experiencing the special attractions of various stops along the way. They travel in the rain, in snow, and during all of the seasons. In 1856, working with the publisher Uoya Eikichi, he created a series of luxury edition prints, made with the finest printing techniques including true gradation of color, the addition of mica to lend a unique iridescent effect, embossing, fabric printing, blind printing, and the use of glue printing (wherein ink is mixed with glue for a glittery effect).
For scholars and collectors, Hiroshige's death marked the beginning of a rapid decline in the ukiyo-e genre, especially in the face of the westernization that followed the Meiji Restoration of 1868.
Hiroshige's work came to have a marked influence on Western painting towards the close of the 19th century as a part of the trend in Japonism. Western artists closely studied Hiroshige's compositions, and some, such as Vincent van Gogh or Claude Monet, painted copies of Hiroshige's prints.
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2019 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau
