Accession Number
1998/2.30

Title
The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido (Gyôsho Edition): #15 Yoshiwara

Artist(s)
Utagawa Hiroshige

Artist Nationality
Japanese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
circa 1841-1842

Medium & Support
color woodblock print on paper

Dimensions
9 1/16 in x 13 5/8 in (23.02 cm x 34.61 cm)

Credit Line
Bequest of Alva Gordon Sink

Label copy

Andō Hiroshige
Japan, 1797–1858
The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Gyōsho edition): #15 Yoshiwara
Edo period (1615–1868)
1852
Color woodblock print on paper Bequest of Alva Gordon Sink, 1998/2.30
During the late Edo period (1615–1868), domestic tourism in Japan was booming. Although the uses of woodblock prints were varied, one of their functions was to serve as either mementos of or surrogates for travel. These prints are by two of the best-known Japanese woodblock artists, Andō Hiroshige and Katsushika Hokusai, who produced many works featuring famous landscapes. A significant number of them include Mount Fuji, which was visible from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and emblematic of both the capital city and the country itself. Indeed Mount Fuji was so closely identified with the city that both artists occasionally depicted it larger than it would have appeared, as here, or in the background of locations from which it could not have been seen.

Subject matter
Landscape with figures at the Yoshiwara stop along the Tokaido Road. Two men stand near a shop stall where the owner sits on a bench. In the distance, Mt. Fuji can clearly be seen rising above the trees.

Physical Description
On the right hand side of the print, two figures are standing in front of a market shop, talking to the store owner. In the distance is another figure walking along the path, and beyond him is what appears to be another market stall with other figures. Writing in the upper left corner. Title in the upper right corner in a red box.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Primary Object Type
color print

Additional Object Classification(s)
Print

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
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Keywords
figures (representations)
hats
markets (structures)
stores
trees