Benten Shrine at the Inokashira Pond
1856 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · National Diet Library, Tokyo
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)
- Year
- 1856
- Medium
- Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Original size
- approx. 36 × 24 cm (ōban)
- Collection
- National Diet Library, Tokyo (impression pid 1303293; many other impressions exist)
- Movement
- Ukiyo-e
- Series
- One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
A small red shrine stands on an island at the lower left of a wide, blue pond, reached by a bridge and surrounded by pines. Beyond, the water winds back between green banks and stands of trees toward low mountains under a yellow and red evening sky, and white birds fly across the pond. The print is number eighty-seven in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, published by Uoya Eikichi, with a censor's seal of the fourth month of 1856. Inokashira Pond, west of Edo, was the source of the Kanda aqueduct that supplied the city's water, and its island shrine to Benten was a place of pilgrimage. Hiroshige uses layered greens and blues to give the view great depth; impressions vary in colour and condition.
This full-bleed edition prints the work edge to edge from a high-resolution scan of the original, very slightly cropped (a few percent at most) to fit the sheet. The gallery edition shows the whole work, uncropped. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Deep pond blue and green with a little red shrine, for a bathroom, bedroom or study at 16×24 in natural wood. It pairs with Bashō's Hermitage on Camellia Hill beside the Aqueduct at Sekiguchi, which shows the same water further on its way.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Ukiyo-e painting
- Era
- 19th century (1856)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cornflower blue
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- bedroom, bathroom, study or library, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, travelers, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway.
Framing. Printed edge to edge: a slim black or natural wood frame right to the image, or let the canvas wrap do the framing. Also available gallery-wrapped on canvas, ready to hang with no frame.
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 Benten Shrine at the Inokashira Pond in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Benten Shrine at the Inokashira Pond 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.
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
