Hiroshige: The passage under the Rakan Monastery
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Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)

Pilgrims in the cave gallery under the steep bank of the Yamakuni river, in Kyushû. The path is leading to the Rakanji, a temple dedicated to the Rakan (aka Lohan or Arhats; Chinese: Luohan), Buddhist saints and disciples of the Buddha.

Title: Buzen, Rakanji shita michi (Buzen Province, The underground path to the Rakan temple)

Series: Rokujû-yoshû meisho-zue (Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces)

Signatuer: Hiroshige hitsu

Publisher Koshimura-ya Heisuke (Koshi-hei), Edo

Censor: Aratame

Date: 1854, 12th month

Size: Vertical Ôban, 34,1 x 22,5 cm (image)

Very good impression, nice colours. Thin old backing. Left margin trimmed. Paper age-toned. Some thin (print-related?) ink smudges in the water surface. Upper corners uneven. Overall very good condition.

Ill. Suzuki/Ôkubo, No. 61, Jansen, No. 61. Cf. also MFA Boston, Bigelow Coll. 11.26259 a.o.; Chazen Museum of Art, van Vleck Coll., 1984.692 a.o.; Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco 1963.30.5067; MAK Vienna, KI 10953-49.

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