For the first time in its history, and after a 25-year absence from London, the British Museum is dedicating an exhibition to one of Japan’s most talented, prolific and popular artists of the Edo period, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858). Hiroshige captured many aspects of Japanese life during this turbulent period, combining a keen sensitivity to the beauty and rhythms of nature with an empathetic regard for the people of all walks of life who are represented in his work. The exhibition will explore Hiroshige’s art and legacy through a significant gift and loan of prints from a major US collector, as well as prints, drawings, illustrated books and paintings from the British Museum’s collection and other significant loans.