Dye House at Konya-cho A3 Print

A reproduction of the Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige’s iconic Dye House print. Hiroshige was one of the last great masters of the traditional ukiyo-e woodblock style, influencing Western artists including Van Gogh and Monet. Drawn in Hiroshige’s final years and published from 1856 to 1861, the works in this series depicted the sights of Edo (as Tokyo was then known).

He included the usual landmarks in the composition: Mount Fuji, Chiyoda Castle and Nihon Bridge, but chose to view Edo from Konya-cho, an everyday street in the tradesmens’ part of town, home to many dye houses even to this day. The print is a riot and rhythm of pattern and colour.

You can view the original work in New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.