MURA · THE COLLECTION · UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE

The Whirlpools of Awa

The whirlpools off Awa, in a triptych of colour woodblock prints designed by Utagawa Hiroshige in 1857. It completes his late set of three triptychs on the theme of snow, moon and flowers: here the curling water stands in for the flowers. The Cleveland Museum of Art received it in 1930 by bequest from Edward L. Whittemore.

Utagawa Hiroshige · 1857 · Triptych of color woodblock prints · Japan, Edo period (1615–1868) · story written 25 September 2026

What you are looking at

The museum writes: "Late in his career, Hiroshige explored the poetic theme of setsugekka, 'snow, moon, and flowers,' in a set of three triptychs. The swirling whirlpools at Awa would remind the viewer of flowers." Mura's catalogue describes pale blue currents curling around rocky islands beneath a long mountainous horizon. The museum gives the overall size as 38.4 by 25.8 centimetres.

How it was made

The work is a triptych of colour woodblock prints from Japan's Edo period (1615–1868). Hiroshige (1797–1858) is described by Wikipedia as the last great master of ukiyo-e, best known for the horizontal "Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō" and the vertical "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo". His approach is characterised there as "more poetic and ambient" than Hokusai's, with colour "often printed with multiple impressions in the same area and with extensive use of bokashi (color gradation)". In 1856 he "retired from the world" as a Buddhist monk; the whirlpool triptych was designed the following year, and he died in 1858. Western painters later collected and studied his compositions; Van Gogh painted copies of some of his prints.

Where it went

The museum's provenance lists the dealer Yamanaka & Co., then Edward L. Whittemore (1862–1930) of Cleveland, who bequeathed the triptych to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1930, accession number 1930.183. Unlike its two companions in Cleveland, it has been shown often: in "The Artist, The River and the Sea" (1947), "The Sea" (1950), "Japanese Woodblock Prints: Themes and Techniques" (1980), "Transformations in Japanese Printmaking" (1984) and "Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection" (2003). It is currently not on view.

Why it is in Mura

It belongs to the Japanese Masters collection with the mood "serene": moving water drawn so that it holds still.