Tsuchiyama- View of the Suzuka Mountains c. 1840 - 1842

Utagawa Hiroshige's "Tsuchiyama - View of the Suzuka Mountains," a woodblock print at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, presents a landscape enveloped in rain, rich in color and texture. The composition draws you in, framing distant mountains between steep slopes on either side. Observe how the artist uses lines to create the illusion of depth; rain is depicted with straight, vertical lines, contrasting with the angular forms of the mountains. The stylized figures of travelers are rendered in flat blocks of red, yellow and blue drawing your attention to the scale. This print exemplifies ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world." The term suggests a world of transient beauty. Hiroshige captures a fleeting moment through formal elements: the diagonal rain lines, the layering of mountains, and the contrast between the solid figures and the atmospheric landscape. These aren’t just aesthetic choices. They reflect a deeper engagement with Japanese aesthetics and philosophy that sees beauty in simplicity, imperfection, and the ephemeral nature of life.