Shower on Nihonbashi Bridge, from the series Famous Places in the Eastern Capital

Given their quantity and availability, Japanese color woodblock prints played an especially important role in fostering Japonisme. This work exemplifies some of the formal characteristics that Western artists found so refreshingly different: compositions with strong diagonals or asymmetrical arrangements, dramatically foreshortened perspective, and an emphasis on flat, linear design. Hiroshige’s prints were also admired for their high technical quality. The multiple blocks (a separate block was used for each color) had to be carved with exactitude in order to print in alignment, and they were hand-inked to create subtle gradations of hue and tone.