2-728-313 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Evening Snow at Kambara (number sixteen of the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido), 1833. The coastal town of Kambara rarely experiences snowfall. Illustrating falling snow is particularly suited to woodblock prints. The snowflakes are created by carving their shapes out of the woodblock. When the surface of the block is inked and printed, the carved areas are represented by the unprinted white paper. This print may be the first by Hiroshige to depict falling snow.