Skip Navigation

Suwa Bluff, Nippori, No. 15 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Utagawa Hiroshige

Asian Art

Suwa Shrine was located just across the road from the rear entrance of the temple depicted in the previous print, right on the edge of the Suwa Bluff, to which it lent its name. From within the shrine precincts, a broad panorama opened to the northeast. In the far distance are the silhouettes of two mountain groups that appear several times in this series. To the right is the twin-peaked Mount Tsukuba, which appears eleven times in the series, the western Male Peak usually shown higher than the Female Peak even though it is actually twenty feet lower.

MEDIUM Woodblock print
  • Place Made: Japan
  • DATES 5th month of 1856
    PERIOD Edo Period, Ansei Era
    DIMENSIONS Image: 13 1/2 x 9 in. (34.3 x 22.9 cm) Sheet: 14 3/16 x 9 1/4 in. (36 x 23.5 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS Publisher, censor, and date seals not visible, probably lost when left edge was trimmed.
    SIGNATURE Hiroshige-ga
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 30.1478.15
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Anna Ferris
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION A scene of the Suwa shrine precincts. Below and to the right, down a steep path, was the village of Nippori; today the Yamanote Line runs along the foot of the bluff, and the Nishi-Nippori Station is about a hundred yards down to the left of this point. In the distance there are rice paddies, in the foreground two towering cedars. Near the trees rest two haystacks in yellow accent. In the far distance are two mountain groups that appear again from time to time in this series. To the right is the twin-peaked Mount Tsukuba, which appears eleven times in all the series and although only 2874 feet in elevation, it is the only mountain worthy of the name in the broad expanse of the Kanto Plain northeast of Edo, and its distinctive shape combined with an ancient tradition of religious veneration to make it more prominent in Hiroshige's landscapes than it was in ordinary visual experience. To the left is the Nikko Range, which appears as many as six times in this series. Scene below shows sightseers relaxing and picnicking beneath the cherry blossoms on platforms in back of the temple.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797-1858). Suwa Bluff, Nippori, No. 15 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 5th month of 1856. Woodblock print, Image: 13 1/2 x 9 in. (34.3 x 22.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.15 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 30.1478.15_PS20.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 30.1478.15_PS20.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2023
    "CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.
    RIGHTS STATEMENT No known copyright restrictions
    This work may be in the public domain in the United States. Works created by United States and non-United States nationals published prior to 1923 are in the public domain, subject to the terms of any applicable treaty or agreement. You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this work. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties, such as artists or artists' heirs holding the rights to the work. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. The Brooklyn Museum makes no representations or warranties with respect to the application or terms of any international agreement governing copyright protection in the United States for works created by foreign nationals. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.
    RECORD COMPLETENESS
    Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.