The Tiger of Ryōkoku comes from a series of humorous ukiyo-e prints by Utagawa Hirokage, active in the late Edo period around the 1850s–1860s. The series depicted the popular street entertainments, festivals, and novelties of Edo, and this design shows a crowd of townspeople reacting with comic alarm to a painted tiger — a fairground attraction rather than the real animal. The humour lies in the gap between the people’s terrified response and the tiger’s obvious artifice.
The print is a polychrome woodblock using the strong Prussian blues and solid outlines typical of Hirokage’s energetic crowd scenes. Figures of varied type — merchants, children, women with children, men in work clothes — scatter and tumble in exaggerated poses. The tiger looms large in the frame, its expression fierce, while the crowd’s reactions are rendered with a cartoonist’s eye for body language.
This is a print full of movement and wit, and it brings a light, lively energy to a room. The . . . Read More >>
The Tiger of Ryōkoku comes from a series of humorous ukiyo-e prints by Utagawa Hirokage, active in the late Edo period around the 1850s–1860s. The series depicted the popular street entertainments, festivals, and novelties of Edo, and this design shows a crowd of townspeople reacting with comic alarm to a painted tiger — a fairground attraction rather than the real animal. The humour lies in the gap between the people’s terrified response and the tiger’s obvious artifice.
The print is a polychrome woodblock using the strong Prussian blues and solid outlines typical of Hirokage’s energetic crowd scenes. Figures of varied type — merchants, children, women with children, men in work clothes — scatter and tumble in exaggerated poses. The tiger looms large in the frame, its expression fierce, while the crowd’s reactions are rendered with a cartoonist’s eye for body language.
This is a print full of movement and wit, and it brings a light, lively energy to a room. The strong colours and the busy scene make it well-suited to a kitchen, a hallway, or a casual living space where an image with personality and humour is welcome.
The print is offered on thick, snow-white fine art paper, as a ready-to-hang framed edition with a wooden frame, or as a satin canvas stretched over a wooden frame.
Frequently asked questions
What does The Tiger of Ryōkoku show?
A crowd of Edo townspeople reacting in comic panic to a painted fairground tiger. The humour comes from the disproportion between the people’s alarm and the tiger’s obvious artifice.
Who was Utagawa Hirokage?
Hirokage was a mid-nineteenth-century ukiyo-e printmaker active around the 1850s–1860s, known for lively, humorous scenes of Edo street life and popular entertainments.
Is the tiger in this print a real animal?
No — the design shows a painted or costumed tiger, a fairground spectacle in Edo. The crowd’s exaggerated fear of a clearly artificial beast is the joke of the image.
Which rooms suit this lively print?
Its energy and humour suit a kitchen, a hallway, or a casual living space. The strong colour and busy composition benefit from a little room around them.
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Japan historical period: Edo 江戸 (1603-1868)
Check out other artwork of Utagawa Hirokage
