View of Zōjōji Temple at Shiba in Snow c. 1847 - 1850

Utagawa Hiroshige created this woodblock print, "View of Zōjōji Temple at Shiba in Snow," capturing a scene from the Edo period. It's a moment suspended in time, one where the bustling city of Edo, now Tokyo, is hushed by a blanket of snow. Hiroshige wasn't just depicting a landscape, he was inviting viewers into a world where the spiritual and the everyday intersect. The Zōjōji Temple, a place of solemnity, stands juxtaposed against the figures trudging through the snow. These aren't just anonymous people; they're members of a society rigidly structured by class, making their way through a shared moment of nature's grandeur. The falling snow obscures the world and prompts us to consider our relationship to nature and society. How do we find our way through the storm?