Unlike a Western painting masterpiece, one can find many different prints of a famous Ukiyo-e woodblock print. There is the first edition and later editions.
They may be different in the colours depending on the choice of the printers. They may even have a difference in the scene if a publisher decides to remove a part of a landscape.
(See p. 184 of Ukiyo-e: The Art of the Japanese Print by Frederick Harris, published in 2010).
Here are a few editions of the famous print by Hiroshige titled ‘Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake, from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856-8).’
This is no. 58 of the series of locations in and around Edo, today’s Tokyo. No. 58 is the most popular print in the series.
Do try to spot the changes in the composition or colours in the different print editions.
According to Andreas Marks in his Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: The Definitive Collector’s Edition (Turtle 2024), there is a total of 118 prints in this series. (P 18).
Melanie Trede in Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo says there are 120 prints. (Taschen 2016, p. 11).
LWH, 19 July 2025, Sat 6.30 a.m.