Antique Japanese Woodblock Print by Gountei Sadahide – “Ryūsei no Zusetsu” (Illustrated Meteor Diagram), c. 1850s. Museum mount.

Antique Japanese Woodblock Print by Gountei Sadahide – “Ryūsei no Zusetsu” (Illustrated Meteor Diagram), c. 1850s- Mounted museum catalog piece

This 19th-century woodblock print, titled “Ryūsei no Zusetsu” (Illustrated Explanation of Meteors), was created by Gountei Sadahide (1808 – 1879), a celebrated artist of the Utagawa school known for merging art and science during Japan’s late Edo period.
The composition portrays shooting stars among swirling clouds, accompanied by vertical script describing celestial phenomena according to mid-19th-century Japanese astronomy.

Printed in black ink from finely carved cherrywood blocks, this page once formed part of a larger educational compendium or illustrated chronicle.
Sadahide’s works capture a pivotal moment when Japan began integrating Western knowledge with traditional aesthetics. This is a compelling artifact for collectors of ukiyo-e, science illustration, and Edo-era culture.

At upper right the heading reads:

流星の図説 (Ryūsei no Zusetsu) — “Illustrated Explanation of Meteors.”

The wood-engraved diagram above shows multiple shooting stars (流星, ryūsei) streaking through cloud bands.
Beneath are explanatory notes written in kanbun (classical Chinese-style Japanese), describing what meteors are believed to be, their appearance, and their seasonal or omen-related significance.

This is part of a didactic astronomical series — one of the “popular science” or “chronicle” prints that circulated in late-Edo Japan when Western astronomy was becoming fashionable. Such sheets were often bound into illustrated almanacs or encyclopedic sets.

Artist: Sadahide Gountei (歌川貞秀, also Utagawa Sadahide)

Pupil of Utagawa Kunisada

Active: ca. 1820s – 1870s

Renowned for maps, foreign-influence prints (yokohama-e), and educational woodcuts illustrating geography, astronomy, and customs.

Exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle — among the first Japanese artists seen by Western audiences.