# Awa Province: Naruto Whirlpools (Awa, Naruto no fūha), from the series Famous Places in the Sixty-Odd Provinces (Rokujūyoshmeisho zue)

**Utagawa Hiroshige** (Japanese, 1797–1858)  
1855  
Color woodblock print; ōban  
36 × 24 cm (14 1/8 × 9 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1939.1501. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/34350).

## About this work

The whirlpools of the Naruto Strait, between the island of Awaji and Awa Province on Shikoku, churn in swirling spirals of blue and white, while waves crash against rocky islets. The tidal currents there are among the strongest in Japan. Hiroshige designed the print in 1855 for Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces, using the tall vertical format to stack the view from foreground rocks to distant shore and turning the turbulent water into a dynamic, almost abstract pattern.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Utagawa Hiroshige designed this in 1855, aged 58. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

A work made of color woodblock print; ōban.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Colour woodblock print.** In Japan these were a team effort. The artist drew the design, a carver cut it into cherry-wood blocks, one block for each colour, and a printer brushed on the pigment and rubbed each sheet by hand. Full-colour prints of this kind were called nishiki-e, “brocade pictures”, from the 1760s on.
- **Ōban.** The standard large Japanese print size, about 38 × 25 cm.

### [Utagawa Hiroshige](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/utagawa-hiroshige)

Japanese, 1797–1858

Hiroshige was born into a family of Edo fire wardens and trained under Utagawa Toyohiro. His breakthrough came in the early 1830s with The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, scenes along the highway between Edo and Kyoto. He went on to design thousands of landscapes attentive to weather, season and the hour of day, ending with One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, still unfinished at his death. Van Gogh made a painted copy of one of its views, Plum Garden at Kameido.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Print
- Culture: Japan
- The artist was 58
- Real size: about 14 × 9½ in (36 × 24 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Subjects: landscapes
- Colour: teal
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/131.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/131/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/awa-province-naruto-whirlpools-awa-naruto-no-fuha-from-the-s-aic-34350).