Comical Edo People by Utagawa Hirokage

An ukiyo-e artist shrouded in mystery, Utagawa Hirokage was a student of the great Utagawa Hiroshige but never rose to the same level of prominence as his master. What Hirokage did accomplish, however, was making the Edoites of his time laugh: woodblock print series such as 'Comical Views of Famous Places in Edo' and 'Great Battle of the Vegetables and the Fish' depicted city folk wildly goofing around in a way reminiscent of silent-era slapstick comedies. This New Year's exhibit at Harajuku's Ota Museum is your chance to see all 50 of the 'Comical Views', in addition to other hilarious Hirokage pieces and works by genre titans Hokusai and Hiroshige, which were frequently referenced by Edo's finest humorist.