It Has Not Happened In 54 Years,

snow falling in Tokyo,

 but it did yesterday, the last time the first snowfall, called hatsuyuki (初雪) occurred in November was in 1962, but it was so light it did not settle, going back to when records first began in 1875 yesterday was truly a first, remembering that yesterday we posted a piece about the Edo-period in Japan (1603-1868), here are a few wood prints from that period showing how the population took to snow,

 print by Hiroshige Utagawa,

 court ladies showing a giant snow cat to a young prince Genji after the first snow (print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi),

someone forgot to put salt on the streets as in this comedic scene a man’s geta flying off his foot and hitting someone in the face,

 snow ball fights and kids rolling snow balls, (print by Sadashige),

this is one of the more iconic views of snowy Edo and part of the series “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo” (print by Utagawa Hiroshige), I wonder how long it will be before it snows again in Japan?