Night View of Saruwaka-machi

The artwork

The full autumn moon lights up the theatre street, and every passer-by drags a long dark shadow along the road. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The blue of the night, the white moon and the warm glow of the lanterns.
• A night scene full of life, which brings atmosphere to a study or a living room.
• A gift for anyone who loves the theatre, the night 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. Saruwaka-machi was the theatre district, where kabuki, the popular theatre of Japan, was performed, and in the evening the street filled with spectators.

Here the magic lies in the shadows. In Japanese pictures of the time cast shadows were hardly ever drawn, and for the people of Edo they were a curiosity. Hiroshige instead puts them everywhere: under every figure dressed in black or grey walks another one, dark, that seems to have a life of its own. This way an evening street becomes a slightly unreal place, suspended between reality and dream. Our reproduction comes from the impression in the Brooklyn Museum in New York.

In a study or a living room it brings the silver light of a moonlit night. A gift for anyone who loves the theatre.

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