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Japan: Autumn: Horie and Nekozane (堀江ねこざね); two villages near the mouth of the Edogawa River and Edo Bay. Image 96 of '100 Famous Views of Edo'. Utagawa Hiroshige (first published 1856–59)

Japan: Autumn: Horie and Nekozane (堀江ねこざね); two villages near the mouth of the Edogawa River and Edo Bay. Image 96 of '100 Famous Views of Edo'. Utagawa Hiroshige (first published 1856–59)

Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (名所江戸百景), actually composed of 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-19th century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series includes many of Hiroshige's most famous prints. It represents a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The people of Edo marked the autumn season (秋の部) with excursions to scenic attractions and harvest festivals, and viewing fall foliage at its peak. The prints numbered 73 through 98 suggest the activities of this season in Japan, the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Months.

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).

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