Fishing Boats with Nets under Ryōgoku Bridge

Fishing Boats with Nets under Ryōgoku Bridge

Kitagawa Utamaro

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Boats carrying beautiful women and fishermen nearly collide on the Sumida River near Ryōgoku Bridge, a famous summer locale. The three fishermen wearing straw skirts in the foreground are a parody of the three protagonists of the foundation story of the Asakusa temple. After two brothers caught a sculpture of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Kannon) in their net, they and the village leader who built the first temple to house the statue were worshipped as manifestations of the deity in the three shrines of Asakusa, and an annual festival in their honor has continued to the present day.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fishing Boats with Nets under Ryōgoku BridgeFishing Boats with Nets under Ryōgoku BridgeFishing Boats with Nets under Ryōgoku BridgeFishing Boats with Nets under Ryōgoku BridgeFishing Boats with Nets under Ryōgoku Bridge

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.