# Numazu Ki Kure

**Utagawa Hiroshige** (Japanese, 1797–1858)  
ca. 1834  
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper  
9 15/32 x 14 in. (24.1 x 35.6 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, JP483. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/36934).

## About this work

In the gathering dusk at Numazu, a full moon rises over the river as travellers walk towards the town, among them a pilgrim carrying a large red tengu mask on his back, the sign of a journey to the Konpira shrine. The print belongs to Hiroshige’s Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, the series of the early 1830s that recorded the great highway between Edo and Kyoto and made his name. Its quiet evening light and small, weary figures convey the poetry of travel.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Utagawa Hiroshige designed this in about 1834, aged about 27. It is now at The Met in New York.

### 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: Prints
- Culture: Japan
- The artist was about 27
- Real size: about 9½ × 14 in (24 × 36 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: Human Figures, Trees
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/873.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/873/1920.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; 20 × 30 in $86
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5

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/numazu-ki-kure-met-36934).