In 1857, the same year that Utagawa Kunisada made the print in my last post, another Utagawa, Utagawa 
Hiroshige, produced his “Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake.” As part of the artist’s series “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo,” this already famous view would then become even more famous—and especially so after Vincent Van Gogh paid tribute to it with his “Bridge In the Rain (After Hiroshige)” (right). (Note how Van Gogh expressed his admiration with an emphatic frame.)
This is a through mortise and tenon frame with 3/4″ sides and 1″ top and bottom rails. As a modification of our very popular Yoshida frame, we call it the Flared Yoshida. This one for the Hiroshige is made in walnut with a black wash. Like the frame on the Kunisada, it has a slip painted to match the reds in the print. (Van Gogh had the same idea.)
We’ve also used it recently on the two oban size Shin Hanga prints below. The first by Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949) is titled “Nikko Futarasan.” Like the Hiroshige frame, this one is walnut with a black wash. It also has a painted slip.
This one, “Hirosake Castle,” is by Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950) (for whom the Yoshida frame was named). The frame is in walnut with a clear finish.
