Strange Events at Tomonoura in Asakusa - 'Comical Views of Famous Places in Edo' - 1859 - Utagawa Hirokage (act 1860-70s) - Japan - Late Edo period

Original woodblock print - Utagawa Hirokage (act 1860-70s) -浅草反甫の奇怪 (Asakusa anpo no kikai
) - From the series "Edo meisho Michisoto shoga" 江戸名所道外書画 (Comical Views of Famous Places in Edo) - Japan - 1859 (Ansei 6 period)

See Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/206931

He was a pupil of Utagawa Hiroshige. He used the artist surname Utagawa and went by the pen name Hirokage. His other pen name was Ichiyosai. According to Kazuo Inoue, although the basis is unclear, he was a pupil of Hiroshige and left behind works such as the large-format nishikie "Famous Places of Edo Clowns (Games) All" (set of 31) from the Ansei to Keio periods (1854-1868). As Hirokage's artist name and the character "hiro" in his signature are similar to Hiroshige's, it is safe to assume that he was an artist connected to Hiroshige's artistic lineage. Currently, 65 works have been confirmed. All of them are large-format nishikie, and no printed books, surimono prints, or hand-painted ukiyo-e prints have been confirmed. Looking at the seals on the actual works, the period in which he created them was only two years and eight months, from January 1859 to August 1861, with most of them concentrated in the two years between Ansei 6 and Man'en 1 (1860). In fact, "Famous Places of Edo: All the Clowns" is not a set of 31 pieces, but a set of 50 pieces with one catalog.