Kinryūzan Temple, Asakusa

The artwork

A gigantic red lantern fills half the sheet, and beneath it opens the snowy avenue that leads to the oldest temple in Edo. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The red of the lantern and of the pillars against the white of the snow.
• A bright picture that brings warmth to a sitting room or a study.
• A gift for anyone who loves Japan and its temples.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), the best loved landscape artist of Japan, published it in 1856 in the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, the series devoted to the city now called Tokyo. We are at the entrance of Sensō-ji, the temple in Asakusa devoted to Kannon, the Buddhist deity of compassion. Kinryūzan is its «mountain name», the title that Japanese temples carry beside their own. Tradition says it was founded in 628, after two fishermen brothers found a small golden image of Kannon in their net, in the Sumida River.

Hiroshige chooses red and white, the colours of happy occasions in Japan, and places us under the gate to watch the snow falling on the pilgrims with their umbrellas. At the end of the avenue we see the temple's second gate and the pagoda. Our reproduction comes from the impression in the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

In a sitting room or an entrance hall it is a good wish that lasts all year. A beautiful gift that brings good fortune.

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