Gōdo: Cormorant Fishing Boats on the Nagara River
c. 1835–36 · Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper · Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
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About this work
- Artist
- Keisai Eisen (1790–1848)
- Year
- c. 1835–36
- Medium
- Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper
- Original size
- 23.2 × 36.4 cm
- Collection
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (impression RP-P-1956-715; many other impressions exist)
- Movement
- Ukiyo-e
- Series
- Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō
At night on the Nagara River, a fisherman in a straw skirt and hat stands in his boat holding the cords of cormorants diving below him, lit by a flaming basket on a pole. A bald man sits smoking a long pipe in the stern, and other boats carry their own fires across the pale water beneath dark wooded hills. This is print fifty-five of The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō, published by Hōeidō and later Kinjudō, c. 1835–36. Keisai Eisen, who designed it, began the series and Utagawa Hiroshige completed it. Gōdo was the fifty-fourth station on the Nakasendō, the inland road from Edo to Kyoto, and the title names these cormorant boats; impressions vary in colour and condition.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Night greys and pale water lit by orange firelight, with dark birds and a brown boat, for a living room, study or dining room at 24×16 in black. It pairs with Karuizawa: Travellers by a Bonfire at Night for two firelit night scenes on the Kisokaidō.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Ukiyo-e painting
- Era
- 19th century (c. 1835–36)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, dining room, study or library
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×16. Prints at 18×12, 24×16, 36×24 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard; 36×24 as the statement piece above a sofa or headboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — natural wood flatters the lighter palette; black sharpens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Gōdo: Cormorant Fishing Boats on the Nagara River in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Gōdo: Cormorant Fishing Boats on the Nagara River painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
