Human-interest Views of the Fifty-three Stations of
the Tôkaidô
(Tôkaidô gofusan
eki shishuku meisho)
Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke
c. 1849
This series of unknown size has prominent human figures engaged in daily activities against a landscape representing one of the stations of the Tôkaidô. It predates Hiroshige’s similar ‘Jimbutsu Tôkaidô’. This series is not listed in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The prints are each about 10 by 14 inches (25 by 36 centimeters), a size known as ôban.
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Number: 1 Station:
Nihombashi Scene:
Crowds on Nihombashi (bridge) |
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Number: 3 Station: Scene:
Travelers at a river-crossing |
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This drawing for the above print
is courtesy of Jeffrey Pollard. |
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Number: 4 Station:
Kanagawa Scene:
Bearers carrying a traveler in a palanquin |
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Number: 5 Station:
Totsuka Scene:
Travelers eating and drinking I am grateful to Ward
Pieters for locating this image. |
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Number: 8 Station: Scene:
Travelers disembarking from a ferry |
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Number: 9 Station:
Oiso Scene: A
traveler on horseback stopping to see roadside vendors This is a key block print. It is
an impression pulled from the first woodblock made by a carver from the
artist’s original drawing. The artist
would write instructions for each color on a separate key block print, and
the woodblock for each color was cut using one of these as a guide. Registration marks (kento) are characteristically found on Japanese key block prints,
although not seen on this example. Kento are cut in each woodblock, so
that the paper can be properly aligned on each woodblock during
printing. In addition to being a guide for carving the color
woodblocks, the key block was also used to apply black ink (usually) in the
printing process. |
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