Evening Squall at Shono

Hakuu in the title means an evening shower. The picture is divided diagonally by a steep slope rising from the lower right to the upper left. On the left, palanquin bearers run up the slope carrying a palanquin, and on the right, travelers and a farmer in hats and straw raincoats run down the slope almost tumbling. The bearers lean forward and plant their feet on the slope, and the passenger in the palanquin shrinks under the rain cover.

The lines of rain are drawn so as to cross the slope almost at right angles, so that the movement of the people and the direction of the rain collide. The bamboo grove in the background is expressed without outlines, in many layers of shadow of varying grayness. Bamboo whipped by the wind is hazy in the rain, and the top of the sky is shaded in black, conveying thick rain clouds hanging low. At the back right, the roof of a house hazy in the rain peeks out.

On the oil-paper umbrella held by a traveler are written the characters for Take no uchi and Fifty-three Stations. According to the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum, this indicates the publisher of this series. The museum counts this print among the finest of the series, in which the movement of the figures, the rain, and the shading of the bamboo grove together depict an instant of storm.