Fox Fires on New Year's Eve at the Changing Tree in Oji (Oji shozoku enoki omisoka no kitsunebi), from the series "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei)"

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Unlike most prints by Utagawa Hiroshige, this design is based on folklore. Japanese tradition holds that on New Year’s Eve, foxes gather at a specific tree near the Oji Inari Shrine in preparation for a visit to the shrine. On the way there, these foxes produce distinctive flames, which the local farmers use to predict the harvest of the coming year. Different shades of gray are used to represent the scene, set off by the orange of the flames. Stars are just visible through the bare branches of the Changing Tree, which survives in Tokyo to this day.

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