In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland — check current display status with the museum.
FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG
Prolific printmaker Utagawa Kunisada produced this seascape of abalone fishing as part of a series of untitled landscape prints in the early Tenpō era (1830–44). In the coastal city of Ise on Japan’s main island of Honshu, female divers called ama traditionally did the physically demanding job of harvesting shellfish such as abalone. These marine snails are valuable for their edible flesh, and their iridescent inner shell is a source of mother-of-pearl. This print depicts three stages of the harvest: One diver plunges into the water, another holds her breath while prying an abalone off the rocks with a blade, and a third ama conveys her successful harvest to the beaming fishermen on the boat.
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Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858) — Gathering Shellfis
Utagawa Kunisada II (Japanese, 1823–1880) — Rustic Genji's P
Kitagawa Utamaro
Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858) — Picture of the Ten
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Utagawa Kunisada
Katsushika Hokusai
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Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858) — The Sixty-Nine Sta
Katsushika Hokusai — 百人一首 乳母か絵とき 参議篁|Poem by Sangi no Takamu
