# Evening Snow at Asuka Hill, from the series Eight Views of the Environs of Edo

**Utagawa Hiroshige** (Japanese, 1797–1858)  
c. 1837–38  
color woodblock print  
Sheet: 22 x 34.4 cm (8 11/16 x 13 9/16 in.)

Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1940.983. [The museum's record](https://clevelandart.org/art/1940.983).

## About this work

This print series was first privately produced for the Taihaidō poetry club led by a “wild” or comic verse (kyōka) poet with the humorous pen name Taihaidō Donshō (or Nomimasu), which translates to “Hall of the Large Cup, Swallow a Liter (or Drink).” The initial print had three poems by members of the club at the top. This print, released as part of a public set of the series later on, has but a single poem, not featured in the original, which reads: The snow falling heavily in the dusk not only covers up signs that warn against breaking branches of the cherry trees on Asuka Hill, but breaks down the branches, as well. It is signed Shōyōan Kōjin (or Takahito), which means “Hermitage of Pine and Cherry, High Person.”

_Text from the Cleveland Museum of Art._

Utagawa Hiroshige designed this in about 1837–38, aged about 35. It is now at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

### 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.

### [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, Edo period (1615–1868)
- The artist was about 35
- Real size: about 8½ × 14 in (22 × 34 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Colour: grey
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/544.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/544/1920.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/evening-snow-at-asuka-hill-from-the-series-eight-views-of-th-cma-120222).