Returning Sails at Yabase (Yabase kihan) thumbnail 1
Returning Sails at Yabase (Yabase kihan) thumbnail 2
Not currently on display at the V&A

Returning Sails at Yabase (Yabase kihan)

Woodblock Print
circa 1834-35 (made)
Artist/Maker
Utagawa Hiroshige (artist)
Yamamoto Heikichi (Eikyûdô) (publisher)
Place of origin
Japan (made)
Tokyo (made)

Hiroshige was one of the leading print and book designers of the Edo period (1615-1868), best known for his landscape compositions. In this print, sailboats return to the town of Yabase on the south-west of Lake Biwa.


Object details

Category
Prints
Object type
Woodblock print
Titles
  • Returning Sails at Yabase (Yabase kihan) (assigned by artist)
  • Eight Views of Ōmi (Ōmi hakkei no uchi) (series title)
Materials and techniques
Woodblock print on paper
Paper
Woodblock Print
Brief description
Woodblock print, 'Returning Sails at Yabase', from the series 'Eight Views of Ōmi' by Utagawa Hiroshige I (1797-1858), Edo (Tokyo), Japan, circa 1834-35.
Dimensions
  • Height: 252mm
  • Width: 377mm
  • Of image height: 226mm
  • Of image width: 354mm
Style
Edo
Marks and inscriptions
  • 「近江八景之内」 (Series Title)
    Translation
    Eight Views of Ōmi
    Transliteration
    'Ōmi hakkei no uchi'
  • 「矢橋帰帆」 (Title)
    Translation
    Returning Sails at Yabase
    Transliteration
    'Yabase kihan'
  • (Upper right-hand cartouche.)
    Translation
    Kyoka poem, translated in Forrer 1997 as: The boats running back to Yabase / with full sails / even now leave the shore at Uchide / blown by a fair wind.
    Transliteration
    'Maho kakete / Yabase ni kaeru / fune wa ima / Uchide-no-hama o / ato no oikaze'
  • 「広重画」 (Artist signature)
    Transliteration
    'Hiroshige ga'
Object history
Purchased from S. M. Franck & Co., accessioned in 1886. This acquisition information reflects that found in the Asia Department registers, as part of a 2022 provenance research project.
Subjects depicted
Mountains
Sailboats
Summary
Hiroshige was one of the leading print and book designers of the Edo period (1615-1868), best known for his landscape compositions. In this print, sailboats return to the town of Yabase on the south-west of Lake Biwa.
Associated objects
Collection
East Asia Collection
Accession number
E.3696-1886

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Record createdFebruary 2, 2007
Record URL
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O131272/returning-sails-at-yabase-yabase-woodblock-print-utagawa-hiroshige/
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