Toriimoto: View of Lake Biwa
c. 1835–38 · Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper · National Diet Library, Tokyo
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About this work
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)
- Year
- c. 1835–38
- Medium
- Woodblock print; ink and colour on paper
- Original size
- approx. 23 × 35 cm (horizontal ōban)
- Collection
- National Diet Library, Tokyo (impression pid 1306256, call no. 寄別2-2-1-5; many other impressions exist)
- Movement
- Ukiyo-e
- Series
- Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō
On a terrace cut into a green hillside, travellers rest at the benches of a teahouse whose open front glows yellow below its dark roofs, and two more sit on the slope beneath a leaning pine. Below them the view opens across a wide blue lake, with small sailing boats on an inlet and pink-brown mountains on the far side under a deep blue sky. This is print sixty-four of The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō, published by Hōeidō and later Kinjudō, c. 1835–38. Keisai Eisen began the series and Utagawa Hiroshige, who designed this sheet, completed it. Toriimoto was the sixty-third station on the Nakasendō, the inland road from Edo to Kyoto; the English title is descriptive, and 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
Blue lake water, green hillside and a warm cream horizon under a deep blue sky, for a living room, study or office at 24×16 in natural wood. It pairs with Shiojiri Pass: View of Lake Suwa for two lakes seen from above on the Kisokaidō.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Ukiyo-e painting
- Era
- 19th century (c. 1835–38)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Palette
- cornflower blue
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- living room, study or library, home office, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, travelers, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×16. Prints at 18×12, 24×16 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard.
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 Toriimoto: View of Lake Biwa in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Toriimoto: View of Lake Biwa 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.





























