Driving Rain at Shōno

Rain as ruled diagonal lines, cut into the block — two sets of them, crossing, so the downpour has direction and weight. Travellers bend under it on a hillside path while bearers run the other way. Three separate printing blocks were used just for the greys that push the bamboo thicket into the distance.

Shōno was a minor stop on the Tōkaidō, the highway between Kyoto and Edo. Hiroshige gave it the most violent weather in the series. The publisher's name, Takenouchi, is written on one of the umbrellas — a credit hidden inside the picture.