# Vehicles on the Streets of Tokyo

**Utagawa Yoshitora** (Japanese, active ca. 1850–80)  
1870  
Triptych of woodblock prints; ink and color on paper  
13 3/4 x 27 1/2 in. (34.9 x 69.9 cm)

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, JP3378. [The museum's record](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/55545).

## About this work

Rickshaws, horse-drawn carriages and even early bicycles crowd a Tokyo street in this triptych of 1870, only two years after the city, formerly Edo, had become the imperial capital. Utagawa Yoshitora was one of several print designers who recorded the dizzying arrival of Western technology and fashion in Meiji Japan, and the public eagerly collected these images of the new. The rickshaw itself had only just been invented, and the strong, bright imported dyes then coming into use give such prints their vivid, modern look.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

Utagawa Yoshitora designed this in 1870, aged 25. 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.
- **Triptych.** Three sheets designed to sit side by side and read as one wide picture.

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

Japanese, active ca. 1850–80

## Facts

- Type: Prints
- Culture: Japan
- The artist was 25
- Real size: about 14 × 28 in (35 × 70 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 11 × 14 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 19th century
- Movement: [Ukiyo-e](https://www.ochreeditions.com/movements/ukiyo-e)
- Subjects: Street Scene, Bicycles, Carriages, Ships
- Colour: rose
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/947.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/947/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2

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/vehicles-on-the-streets-of-tokyo-met-55545).