Landscapes in Japanese woodblock print paintings: The example of Hiroshige

Tired of the political turmoil and wars that have been going on for many years, Japan has reached an environment of peace and prosperity that will last for about two hundred and fifty years after the Tokugawa Shogun ended the civil war and took the country under control. Increasing prosperity and peace provided a suitable environment for the development of artistic and cultural activities, and with the closure of the Shogun to the outside world, it was instrumental in the birth of a unique and completely Japanese art style (ukiyo-e). The first theme of Ukiyo-e is the world of entertainment. However, the political tensions and changes in social life at the end of the Edo period caused him to change his subjects. With the increasing habit of traveling, the places visited and seen have been included in the print pictures, and with the increasing demand, works on the theme of landscape print have been produced. In this study, the life, understanding of art and art life of Utagawa Hiroshige, one of the most important artists of Japanese printmaking, who also produced works on the theme of landscape, are discussed. The artist's place, importance and contribution in the art of woodblock printing was tried to be examined by choosing certain works from the "Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road" Series. Hiroshige's works are not only valuable as landscape prints. At the same time, they are a reflection of the Japanese culture, belief and lifestyle of the period and are witnesses of their time. In his works, traces of the popular literature, poems, religious beliefs, local dishes and traditions of the period took their places as part of the composition. With the findings obtained as a result, Hiroshige depicted different times of nature in an atmosphere full of surprising reality and poetic feelings in his prints. He presented an idealized reality by removing the parts that lacked taste and elegance in the sketches he created based on his observations. Hiroshige used morning and evening fogs to help create the effects of depth and aerial perspective, often presenting a bird's eye view of a scene. His ability to depict atmospheric phenomena such as moonlight, fog, snow, rain is one of his greatest artistic achievements. In this study, a literature review was made using the qualitative research method and a conceptual framework was created. As a result of the literature review, it was seen that there is no detailed study written about the artist in Turkish sources. In particular, information was obtained from printed sources written by foreign experts who are experts in the subject. With this feature of the study, it is aimed to fill this gap in the field as the most comprehensive study on the artist Hirosgihe in our country. It is aimed to create a resource for researches on wood print works of Hiroshige and for researchers interested in the subject.