A Shoal of Fishes Ando Hiroshige, 1797-1858 Hiroshige has been so closely identified with picturesque, often breathtaking views of Tokaido that other prints besides his famous landscapes remain relatively unknown in the West. The remarkable woodblock prints of fishes that make up this exhibit are, however, quite rare even in Japan, where they were first published around 1823-33. Confusion sometimes arises over Hiroshige's name and his signatures. He was born Ando Tokutaro in 1797, the son of a fire brigade official, but after he entered the studio of Utagawa Toyohiro at the age of sixteen, he was permitted to use the family name -- Utagawa -- and was given the pen name Hiroshige. The single character "Hiro" came from Toyohiro's name, as was the custom among artists. But Hiroshige also called himself Ichiyusai, and a few years later after Toyohiro's death, he changed his pen name to Ichiyusai. Finally, after 1841, Hiroshige occasionally signed himself simply Ryusai. Considering the eminent position he occupies in the history of art, relatively little is known of his life. But this is true of all masters of the Ukiyo-e School. His diaries indicate that after 1830 he spent most of his time traveling the sixty provinces, almost penniless at first, illustrating nature in all its aspects. So prolific was Hiroshige that by the time of his death in 1858 at the age of sixty-one, he had produced well over 8,000 individual pieces, including 5,500 or more color prints. Besides the popular landscapes -- the villages, mountains, rivers, temples, shrines, and seascapes -- other subjects by Hiroshige include flowers, birds, and two sets of fishes. The set of nineteen prints exhibited here was originally purchased as a loosely bound book and likely had been collected from an edition of the first -- the larger and more important -- of the two sets. Each print suggests a season based on the flower or plant depicted and the time of the year traditionally associated with each fish. You may also browse the online UCSF Japanese Woodblock Print Collection.