Skip Navigation

Kumano Junisha Shrine, Tsunohazu, No. 50 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo

Utagawa Hiroshige

Asian Art

In the late Edo period, the Kumano Jūnisha Shrine flourished by combining the appeals of powerful deities with a scenic site. Hiroshige depicts the broad expanse of Jūnisō Pond, fringed with veranda like tea stalls and, to the lower left, a two-story restaurant. Trees, including a curiously barrenwillow, ring the pond. In the distance, beyond the yellow bands of mist, looms what is probably the outline of trees on the higher ground to the southwest. In the Meiji period (1868–1912), the pond thrived as an entertainment center and summer retreat, as it had in Hiroshige's time.

MEDIUM Woodblock print
  • Place Made: Japan
  • DATES 7th month of 1856
    PERIOD Edo Period, Ansei Era
    DIMENSIONS Sheet: 14 3/16 x 9 3/16 in. (36 x 23.3 cm) Image: 13 x 8 1/2 in. (33 x 21.6 cm)  (show scale)
    MARKINGS No publisher's seal visible, probably lost when left margin was trimmed. Seals in top margin: date seal and censor seal.
    SIGNATURE Hiroshige-ga
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 30.1478.50
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Anna Ferris
    CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION The Kumano Shrine, (the main sanctuary shown at the bottom) survives today in the northwest corner of Shinjuku Central Park, near the present day Century-Hyatt Hotel. The pond has been filled in for many years, and in Hiroshige's time, this place was just outside the limits of Edo along the Koshu Highway. Here a Kumano shrine, known as the "Twelve Shrines" (Juniso or Junisha) after the multiple systems of divinities in the main Kumano shrine on the Kii Peninsula. In the lower right there is a veranda tea stall and in the lower left, a two storey restaurant. In the Meiji Period, the Juniso pond thrived as an entertainment center and summer retreat. There is a bare willow tree near the pond on higher ground. There is fabric-painting on the title cartouche and subtle bokashi throughout; the scratchy pattern in the blue expanse of the pond is the mark of a damaged baren.
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797-1858). Kumano Junisha Shrine, Tsunohazu, No. 50 in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, 7th month of 1856. Woodblock print, Sheet: 14 3/16 x 9 3/16 in. (36 x 23.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Anna Ferris, 30.1478.50 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 30.1478.50_PS20.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 30.1478.50_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.