Minneapolis Institute of Art

Moon Pine in Ueno Park

Utagawa Hiroshige; Publisher: Sakanaya EikichiLinkedCulture matchlcp-b47005c67da2

Date

1857, 8th month

Medium

Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Object ID

64834

One of the most iconic close-up views of this series is the so-called Moon Pine (Tsuki no matsu), which had a branch that was trained, bonsai-like, to grow in the form of a circle. The pine was located outside the Kiyomizu Hall on Mount Tōei (Tōeizan), part of the Kan’eiji Temple complex in what is today Tokyo’s Ueno Park. The circular branch works almost like a telescope to frame the samurai residences in the Hongō district, in the far distance, across Shinobazu Pond. Moon Pine fell victim to a typhoon in the early Meiji era (1868–1912), but in 2011 a new tree with a similar circular branch was planted in the same spot. Japan, Asia

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