Utagawa Hiroshige
O-ban polychrome print, 25.6 x 38.5cm
1832-1833 (Tempou 3-4)

Hiroshige established the position as a premier landscape artist with the superior compositional ideas and the point of view of this masterpiece, from the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou”. Ichi-no-Torii or the First Torii Gate of Enoshima Island situated at Fujisawa Post Station is illustrated with the Yugyouji-temple at its background. The bridge behind the Torii Gate is Daigiri Bridge (present day Yugyouji Bridge). People on the bridge are the pilgrims to Mt. Oyama and people just going through the Torii Gate with the sticks in their hands are the pilgrims to Enoshima Island. This work tells the contemporary viewers that Fujisawa Post Station was alive with tourists and the pilgrims for both sites.

Utagawa Hiroshige
Kansei 9~Ansei 5 (1799~1858)
Hiroshige was a pupil of Utagawa Toyohiro. He also studied varieties of painting styles from Kano school, nan-ga (southern Chinese painting style), and Shijō school. He was active as an ukiyo-e artist from Bunsei 1 to his death (1818~1858). He first produced pictures of beautiful women, Kabuki actors and worriers, but from the Tempō era he was acknowledged as a leading landscape artist. He published many pictures of famous places such as the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido”. Hiroshige’s the other fortes were kachoga (picture of birds and flowers) and animal pictures.