名所江戸百景　王子装束ゑの木大晦日の狐火|New Year's Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Ōji

Utagawa Hiroshige

ca. 1857 · Woodblock print; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Foxes gather at the large, old enoki (hackberry) tree on New Year's Eve to prepare to pay homage at the Ōji Inari shrine, the headquarters of the Inari cult in eastern Japan (Kantō). The cult centers on the god of the rice field, for whom the fox serves as messenger. On the way to Ōji, the foxes have set a number of kitsunebi (foxfires), which farmers count to predict the upcoming rice harvest. Hiroshige's print successfully conveys the mysterious atmosphere of the rite as the procession of foxes bearing fires approaches from the distant, dark forest under a starry sky.

Artist

Utagawa Hiroshige

Date

ca. 1857

Medium

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1925