Hiroshige, Utagawa

Born 1797, the son of a government fire officer, he was a pupil of the landscape artist Toyohiro. His early prints were small in size and were mostly landscapes and ‘bijin-ga’, which means ‘pictures of beautiful women’. In the 1830’s he began producing his most well-known works, mainly colour prints from wood blocks, and ‘Naruto Rapids’ is a typical example. Died 1858.