Night Rain at Ōyama, from the series "Eight Famous Views of Kanagawa"

Night Rain at Ōyama, from the series "Eight Famous Views of Kanagawa"

Utagawa Toyokuni II

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Utagawa Toyoshige, student of the first Toyokuni (1769–1825), succeeded to his master's name as Toyokuni II in 1825. In Utagawa genealogy, Toyoshige and the famous Hiroshige are something like cousins. The most famous print in the series "Eight Famous Views of Kanagawa," set west of Edo, is Night Rain at Ōyama. Mount Ōyama, the ancient center of mountain asceticism where the guardian king Fudō Myōō was enshrined, became a popular pilgrimage site during the eighteenth century. Prayers for rain were offered there, and it became standard to depict this place in the rain. The mysterious appearance of the mountain at night, with Mount Fuji visible in the distance, is achieved by rendering it without outline, in pointed contrast to the sharply delineated torrents in varying tones. Despite differences between the steady downpour in Hiroshige's Karasaki print (JP52) they share an overall atmospheric effect..

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Night Rain at Ōyama, from the series "Eight Famous Views of Kanagawa"Night Rain at Ōyama, from the series "Eight Famous Views of Kanagawa"Night Rain at Ōyama, from the series "Eight Famous Views of Kanagawa"Night Rain at Ōyama, from the series "Eight Famous Views of Kanagawa"Night Rain at Ōyama, from the series "Eight Famous Views of Kanagawa"

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.