Egrets gather in the reeds along the river at Sakasai

A wide river stretches beneath a sky shading from cream to soft violet, with low hills and a line of pine trees along the far bank fronting a cluster of thatched-roof houses. A deep blue band sweeps diagonally across the water, where a yellow-laden boat and small boats drift near the village. Four white egrets appear across the composition: one alights among the reeds on the far bank, one swoops low over the water and two stand in the foreground reeds. Yellow and red title cartouches sit at upper right; the artist's red signature cartouche is at lower left.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was the last great master of the ukiyo-e landscape print. Born into a family of fire wardens in Edo, he turned to printmaking under Utagawa Toyohiro and found his subject in the roads and seasons of Japan — above all in the Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833–34) and the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856–58). His snow, rain and evening skies, and his bold near-and-far compositions, were studied closely by Van Gogh, Whistler and Monet. His prints are held by the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.