Shower at Shōno

This print shows travelers caught in a sudden rainstorm on the Tokaido road near Shono, from Hiroshige's series The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, published around 1834. It is one of the most dramatic prints in the series. The composition is diagonal, with the road sweeping from lower right to upper left. Travelers on the road lean into the wind, their straw hats and umbrellas bent by the storm. The rain falls in thick dark lines that cut across the entire image at a steep angle, matching the slope of the road. A few trees on the hillside above are bent in the same direction. The palette is blues and greys, with the yellow of straw hats and the dark blue of the rain providing the strongest contrasts. Hiroshige was in his late thirties when he designed the Tokaido series, his first major landscape project. He had traveled the Tokaido road in 1832 as part of an official delegation, and the sketches he made on that trip became the basis for the series. The Tokaido was the main road between Edo and Kyoto, and the series showed each of the fifty-three stations along the way. The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido was published in 1833 and was the print series that established Hiroshige's reputation. It came the same year as Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, and the two series together are considered the foundation of ukiyo-e landscape printing. Hiroshige's approach was more focused on human experience and weather than Hokusai's, which tended toward monumental views. Woodblock print, ink and color on paper, 22.5 by 34.6 centimeters. The oban format is horizontal (yoko-e), suited to the wide view of the road. The rain lines were printed from a carved block with thin parallel grooves. The diagonal energy of this print makes it a good choice for a wall that needs movement: a hallway, a stairwell, or above a long console table. The blues and greys pair well with cool-toned interiors. The 18x24 framed version in a black frame is the most versatile choice. The Met's impression came from the Howard Mansfield Collection, purchased with the Rogers Fund in 1936. This is a public domain artwork (CC0), from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 24x36 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.