Utagawa Hiroshige II
1859 (Ansei 6)
Donated by Tanba Tsuneo
Comprising more than 260 islands of various sizes, Matsushima has long been regarded as one of the Tohoku region’s most famous sights. Depicted in numerous landscape drawings of famous places, it gained renown throughout the country, and even today is beloved for its beauty.
This woodblock print is taken from One Hundred Famous Views in the Various Provinces, a collection of landscape prints by Utagawa Hiroshige II (1826–69) created as an homage to Hiroshige’s Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces. The inscription “shinkei” or “true view” indicates that the paintings depict landscapes as they existed at the time.