Minowa, Kanasugi and Mikawashima

The artwork

A crane swoops down from above with its wings spread across the corner of the sheet, while another walks calmly in the rice field. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The white of the cranes, the green of the rice fields and the pink of the horizon.
• An elegant, decorative image, which brightens a living room or a bedroom.
• A gift of good fortune for an anniversary or a new home.

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. The title names three villages north of the city, among the rice fields.

In winter migrating cranes came to Mikawashima, and the shōgun, the military ruler who governed Japan, held a solemn hunt there almost every year. The crane was a bird of good fortune and an important ceremonial gift: for this reason, apart from one or two birds taken at each hunt, the cranes of Mikawashima were carefully protected. Hiroshige tells this with a detail that escapes the first glance: in the distance, a man carries two buckets full of rice to feed them. Our reproduction comes from the impression in the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

In a living room or a bedroom it brings grace and lightness. A gift of good fortune for anyone starting something new.

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