Ando Utagawa Hiroshige

Uchiwa was a type of flat bamboo fan that was popular in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1868). The fans were sold along pilgrimage routes and at festivals during the warm summer season. Publishers specially commissioned designs for fans by famous artists, which were produced and sold along with souvenirs. Hiroshige was one of the artists who created woodblock prints for uchiwa fans, and today it is estimated that he created over 650 fanprints. The fans were utilitarian objects that did not cost much and were therefore not preserved. The few woodblock prints of this type that survive today are those that were never mounted.