“This serene woodblock print captures a snowy day at Benzaiten Shrine, inviting you to experience the quiet beauty and chill of a winter landscape in Japan. Notice the delicate details of snow and the figures braving the cold.”
A blanket of snow transforms the familiar landscape of Benzaiten Shrine, creating a scene of quiet contemplation. The muted tones of winter dominate this print, where a few figures brave the cold, their umbrellas and cloaks offering splashes of color against the stark white. The composition draws the eye across the frozen pond, leading to the small, snow-laden shrine nestled among bare trees. This work captures a specific moment in time and weather, inviting the viewer to feel the chill in the air and the hush of a snow-covered world. It is one of a series exploring the seasonal themes of "Snow, Moon, and Flowers" at famous Japanese places.
- Artist
- Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重
- Date
- 1839
- Medium
- Color woodblock print; oban
- Location
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Dimensions
- 21.6 × 34 cm (8 1/2 × 13 3/8 in.)
- Collection
- Arts of Asia
- Culture
- Japan
- Credit line
- Clarence Buckingham Collection
What to Notice
Five details hide in plain sight. Here’s where to look.

The delicate outlines of snow on the tree branches.
The footprints in the snow, suggesting recent passage.
The subtle blue-gray shading that defines the snowdrifts.
The small red details of the shrine contrasting with the white.
1 more detail is waiting.
See all 5 in Art Whisper →Stand in front of it and listen
The full narration walks you through Snow at Benzaiten Shrine in Inokashira Pond (Inokashira no ike Benzaiten no yashiro yuki no kei), from the series "Snow, Moon, and Flowers at Famous Places (Meisho setsugekka)" — the story behind it, the details most visitors miss, and why it matters. Free in the Art Whisper app.
Further Works by 歌川広重
Macaw on a pine branch
1830 · Art Institute of Chicago
No. 32: Seba, from the series "Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido (Kisokaido rokujukyu tsugi no uchi)"
1830 · Art Institute of Chicago
No. 37: Miyanokoshi, from the series "Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido (Kisokaido rokujukyu tsugi no uchi)"
1830 · Art Institute of Chicago
Arai, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
1832 · Art Institute of Chicago
Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
1832 · Art Institute of Chicago
Maisaka: The Ferry at Imagiri (Maisaka, Imagiri funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
1832 · Art Institute of Chicago
Mishima: Morning Mist (Mishima, asagiri), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi)," also known as the Hoeido Tokaido
1833 · Art Institute of Chicago
Snow at Akabane Bridge in Shiba (Shiba Akabane no yuki), from the series "Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho)"
1838 · Art Institute of Chicago
More works to explore
Beyond 歌川広重: works from the same years.
Same era · 1820s–1850s
The Estuary Farm
Léon-Victor Dupré · 1831 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Hamlet and Horatio in the Graveyard
Eugène Delacroix · 1839 · Department of Paintings of the Louvre
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Stormy Sea Breaking on a Shore
J. M. W. Turner · 1840 · Yale Center for British Art
Same era · 1820s–1850s
The Virgin Adoring the Host
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres · 1841 · Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Young Woman
Jean-François Millet · 1844 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Wooded Landscape
Gustave Courbet · 1848 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Mount Chocorua and Moat Mountain from North Conway
William Hart · 1850
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Olive Trees
Vincent van Gogh · 1853 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1820s–1850s
The Fortune Teller (La Bonne Aventure)
Jacques-Louis David · 1824 · Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Woman in a Blue Dress
School of William Matthew Prior · 1840 · Art Institute of Chicago
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Designs for a Decorated Dish, or Platter, and a Biscuit Barrel
Alfred Henry Forrester [Alfred Crowquill] · 1845 · The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Same era · 1820s–1850s
Mr. James Mackie
Samuel Alcock & Company · 1830 · Art Institute of Chicago
