The Paulownia Garden at Akasaka
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 1303252; many other impressions exist)
- Movement
- Ukiyo-e
- Series
- One Hundred Famous Views of Edo
The slender grey trunk of a paulownia tree rises through the whole height of the sheet, its broad green leaves spreading against a deep blue sky. Behind it a wide reservoir pond reflects the sky, with a cluster of houses on its far bank and green woods beyond. The print is number fifty-two in One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, published by Uoya Eikichi, with a censor's seal of the fourth month of 1856. The paulownia trees at Akasaka grew along the banks of the Tameike reservoir, at the edge of the city. Hiroshige uses the single vertical tree to divide the view, a device he returns to across the series; 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
Leaf green and deep blue with a still grey-blue pond, for a study, bedroom or narrow wall at 16×24 in natural wood. It pairs with Kinokuni Hill and Distant View of Akasaka and the Tameike Pond, which looks over the same water.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Ukiyo-e painting
- Era
- 19th century (1856)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cornflower blue
- Mood
- calm
- Rooms
- bedroom, 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. 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 The Paulownia Garden at Akasaka in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Paulownia Garden at Akasaka 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.


























