From Samurai to Sketches: British Museum celebrates the last master of Ukiyo-e

200 years ago, a young Japanese man destined to become a Samurai put down the sword and picked up a paint brush, and in doing so was to become the last master of the great Ukiyo-e tradition of woodblock prints.
Now, an exhibition of those images has opened at the British Museum.Utagawa Hiroshige was born in 1797 and, at about 14, chose to become an artist. Although like others, he focused on traditional images of female beauties, sumo wrestlers, and simple landscapes, Hiroshige’s work is n