Famous Views of the Fifty-three Stations of the
Tôkaidô
(Tôkaidô
go-jû-san yeki roku shuku meisho)
Publishers: Tsuru-ya Kihei and Tsuta-ya Kichizô
c. 1835
The
|
Number: 1
(Nihonbashi, Shinagawa, Description:
This print depicts four stations, each identified by a small label. The first is Nihonbashi ( Schaap:
20.1 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 2
(Hodogaya, Totsuka, Description:
Yellow labels placed throughout the abstract mountain ridge indicate Schaap:
20.2 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This is another example of
the above design. It was printed from
the same woodblocks, but the printer applied more black ink to the sky and
foreground in order to create a night scene. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This is yet another variant
of the same image kindly supplied by Richard Illing. It has blue shading (bokashi) in the foreground, different mid-ground mists and
different patterns on some of the garments. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 3
(Ôiso, Odawara, Hakone, Mishima and Description:
Travelers marveling at the Koshiseki (also known as Tora’s Rock and Tiger Cub
Rock). The mountains of Hakone are
known for displaying a multitude of colors. Schaap:
20.3 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 4
(Hara, Yoshiwara and Kambara Stations) Description:
This print shows travelers on a road heading towards Schaap:
20.4 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This is a later edition of
the above print by a different publisher whose seal appears in the right
lower corner. A careful comparison of
the two prints reveals that the lines are exactly the same, indicating that
the same woodblocks were used. If they
had been recarved, slight differences would be detectable. It was not unusual for a second publisher
to buy old woodblocks and reprint them.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 5
(Yui, Okitsu, Ejiri, Fuchû and Mariko Stations) Description:
In the foreground, two travelers rest on a hillside labeled Mariko and look
out towards the seacoast towns of Fuchû and Ejiri. In the distance, a famous pine grove on Schaap:
20.5 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 6
(Okabe, Fujieda, Shimada and Kanaya Stations) Description:
Travelers who have just crossed the Ôi River from Shimada on the eastern
shore to Kanaya on the west. The steep
incline at the right at Fujieda is juxtaposed with the angle of the road in
the foreground where a traveler on horseback and his companion trudge uphill;
the contrasting lines of these two hills frame the space of the distant
shoreline. Schaap: 20.6 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Another state of the above
print |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 7
(Nissaka, Kakegawa, Fukuroi, Mitsuke and Description:
This print is the closest in the series to being an uninhabited landscape,
but travelers can be discerned as black dots on the mountains of Nissaka to
the right. The blue circle in the
right lower corner is a famous rock at Sayo Nakayama called Yonakiseki. A legend relates how this rock summoned
Kannon (Buddhist goddess of mercy) when bandits murdered a pregnant woman
there. The infant was saved and
eventually avenged his mother’s death.
Kakegawa, Fukuroi and Mitsuke are each shown as a cluster of huts in
the mountainous region. Schaap:
20.7 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 8
(Maisaka, Arai, Shirasuka, Futakawa, Yoshida and Goyû Stations) Description:
The large sailboat in the foreground is a ferry that sails between Maisaka
and Arai. Shirasuka, Futakawa, Yoshida, and Goyû are indicated by labels
along the distant mountains. Schaap:
20.8 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 9
(Akasaka, Fujikawa, Description:
Kuniyoshi’s family were silk dyers, and Narumi was renowned for its
stencil-dyed fabrics. Newly dyed
fabrics are drying in the wind at right as workers carry bolts of cloth to
the river to wash and prepare for dyeing.
The landscape across the river shows the Yahagi trestle bridge at
Okazaki, which was the longest bridge in Japan at the time. Akasaka, Fujikawa, and Chiryu Stations are
indicated on the mountains in the distance. Schaap:
20.9 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 10
(Miya, Kuwana, Description:
Blind itinerant priests are entering the Atsuta Shinto Shrine in Miya, which
is marked by a wooden tori at
left. Schaap:
20.10 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 11
(Shôno, Kameyama, Seki, Sakanoshita and Tsuchiyama Stations) Description:
A snow-covered valley with two travelers climbing a mountain in the right
foreground Schaap:
20.11 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Number: 12
(Minakuchi, Ishibe, Kusatsu, Ôtsu and Description:
Travelers are walking along the road from Mizuguchi to Ishibe past Schaap:
20.12 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
This series of prints
contains many seals and inscriptions.
The small yellow rectangles indicate names of regions and noteworthy
places. The following table lists
other inscriptions and seals found in this series.
|
‘Schaap’ refers to listing in ‘Heroes and
Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi’ by Robert Schaap (Hotei Publishing,
Leiden, 1998).
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN PAGE
