Object numberX.254

Zōjō-ji Temple at Shiba in the Snow

Portfolio/Seriesfrom the series Three Views of Famous Places in Edo

Date1839-1842

Artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) (Japanese, 1797-1858)

CultureJapanese

MediumWoodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

DimensionsImage: 8 11/16 x 13 3/4 in. (22 x 35 cm)
Sheet (Horizontal ōban): 9 13/16 x 14 9/16 in. (25 x 37 cm)

Period19th c (Edo period)

Classification(s)

SignedOn recto, lower right, signed in block: 広重画 (Hiroshige ga)

InscribedOn recto, upper left, in block: 江戸名所三つの眺め (Three Views of Famous Places in Edo (Edo Meisho mittsu no nagame); 芝増上寺雪中 (Snow at Zōjō-ji Temple in Shiba (Shiba Zōjō-ji setchū)

Vassar Exhibitions

Bunmei Kaika: Political Landscape in Early Modern and Modern Japan

Label TextDuring the Edo period, Buddhist temples had political connections to the government and were used as a means of social control. Zōjōji Temple became the Tokugawa family’s personal temple and was moved from present-day Kōjimachi to Shiba, the location mentioned in the print’s title. The Tokugawa shogunate required all Japanese households to affiliate with Buddhist temples. While it initially started as a means to suppress and extinguish the spread of Christianity in Edo-period Japan, by the end of the period, the system functioned to track and control its population.

Terms

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu