Utagawa Hiroshige Giclee Repro Print New Years Eve Foxfires Oji Edo 15"H

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重, 1797–1858): New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji (王子装束ゑの木大晦日の狐火, Oji Shozoku Enoki Omisoka no Kitsunebi), from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: archival giclée reproduction

Contemporary reproduction after original woodblock print, published 1857.

Dozens of white foxes gather under a bare, gnarled tree on a dark New Year’s Eve, each with a small flame floating above its head. Hundreds more flames stream across the distant fields toward Oji Inari Shrine under a starry sky, and a few straw-covered haystacks stand in the foreground.

By local belief, foxes from the surrounding provinces gathered at this tree on New Year’s Eve, changed their appearance, and went to the shrine to receive their orders for the year. Farmers read the number and pattern of the flames as a forecast of the coming harvest. The original is dated the ninth month of 1857, signed “Hiroshige ga,” and carries the publisher’s seal of Uoya Eikichi.

Hiroshige was the leading ukiyo-e landscape artist of the 19th century. One Hundred Famous Views of Edo was his last major series, and the night scenes are among its most admired.

Printed locally by a professional print house on acid-free archival fine-art paper with fade-resistant pigmented inks.

• Title: 王子装束ゑの木大晦日の狐火 (Oji Shozoku Enoki Omisoka no Kitsunebi), New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji, from 名所江戸百景 (One Hundred Famous Views of Edo)
• Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858)
• Original date: Ansei 4 (1857), publisher Uoya Eikichi
• Medium: Archival giclée reproduction on acid-free fine-art paper with pigmented inks
• Dimensions: 10.25"W x 15"H

Condition: New