Atagoshita and Yabu Lane

The artwork

Snow falls thickly on the roofs and the bamboo, birds fly low, and along the canal people walk slowly under umbrellas and straw hats. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The white of the snow, the deep blue of the canal and the pink of the sky on the horizon.
• A bright winter landscape, which brings calm to a bedroom or a living room.
• A gift for anyone who loves snow, winter and Japan.

It belongs to the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, the series that Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), the best loved landscape artist of Japan, published between 1856 and 1858; Edo was the name of Tokyo until 1868. It is the last of the four famous snow scenes of the series in which bright colours stand out against the falling flakes. Atagoshita means «below Mount Atago», the hill you can see on the right.

The clump of bamboo in the foreground was a landmark everyone in the city knew. It grew outside the northeast corner of the mansion of the daimyō of Minakuchi, that is the feudal lord of that domain, and it was there to protect it: evil spirits were believed to enter from the northeast, and that direction was called «the devil's gate». The bamboo also gave its name to Yabu Lane, that is «thicket lane», which here remains hidden, behind on the right. Our reproduction comes from the impression in the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

In a bedroom or a living room it brings the silence of a snowy day. A gift for anyone who loves winter.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass