Artist: Utagawa Kunisada Production date: c.1836 (c. Tempou 7) Okabe, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway The background of the Okabe is the Utsunotani Pass. This road was constructed as part of the Toukaidou Highway, when the siege of Odawara took place by Lord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The situation illustrated is a young woman in front is serving sake to customers of a banquet since she is holding a liquor server and menu such as the sea bream with its head and tail is illustrated. Although the dress of the lady suggests that she is daughter of decent family. This series of beauties with the landscapes of the Toukaidou Highway on the background was produced by Utagawa Kunisada and it consists of 56 works. This series illustrated the scenes from the Nihonbashi Bridge to Narumi post station and Yokkaichi post station on its background. The distinctive about this series is all the works were basically referred the representative work of Utagawa Hiroshige’s “Fifty-three Stations of Toukaidou Highway” series of Hoeidou edition while adding few changes. Although this series is known with more familiar title of “Kunisada’s Toukaidou with Beauties”, our museum adopted the title written on the cover “Beauties with the Views of Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou”.

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada Production date: c.1836 (c. Tempou 7) Mariko, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway At the background of this picture, the scene of travelers eating the Mariko post station’s specialty tororo-jiru (grated yam soup) is illustrated. Tororo-jiru was a popular food from the old time in Japan, and a famous haiku poet of Edo period Matsuo Bashou even wrote a poem about this food. Since there is a container filled with water to wash the sake cup, this woman is considered as a courtesan attending a banquet. This series of beauties with the landscapes of the Toukaidou Highway on the background was produced by Utagawa Kunisada and it consists of 56 works. This series illustrated the scenes from the Nihonbashi Bridge to Narumi post station and Yokkaichi post station on its background. The distinctive about this series is all the works were basically referred the representative work of Utagawa Hiroshige’s “Fifty-three Stations of Toukaidou Highway” series of Hoeidou edition while adding few changes. Although this series is known with more familiar title of “Kunisada’s Toukaidou with Beauties”, our museum adopted the title written on the cover “Beauties with the Views of Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou”.

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada Production date: c.1836 (c. Tempou 7) There are many rivers within the Toukaidou Highway and if there was no bridge around, travelers crossed the river either by boats or carried by men porters. The Oi River illustrated at the background of Fuchu was the river of “Kachi-watashi”, and men porters carried travelers to cross them over the river by walk. A woman in front is in an outfit of baggage porter but there was not such a porter in reality. This woman porter is a product of Kunisada’s imagination. This series of beauties with the landscapes of the Toukaidou Highway on the background was produced by Utagawa Kunisada and it consists of 56 works. This series illustrated the scenes from the Nihonbashi Bridge to Narumi post station and Yokkaichi post station on its background. The distinctive about this series is all the works were basically referred the representative work of Utagawa Hiroshige’s “Fifty-three Stations of Toukaidou Highway” series of Hoeidou edition while adding few changes. Although this series is known with more familiar title of “Kunisada’s Toukaidou with Beauties”, our museum adopted the title written on the cover “Beauties with the Views of Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou”.

Utagawa Kunisada(Utagawa Toyokuni Ⅲ) 1833 The background landscape is the same composition of “Okitsu River at Okitsu” from Hiroshige’s Hoeidou edition of the Toukaidou series. The scenery of people crossing Okitsu River, which flowed the east side of Okitsu post station, by kachi-watashi (Men porters who carried travelers to cross them over the river by walk.) is depicted. Satta Mountain Pass is depicted in the background.

Utagawa Kunisada(Utagawa Toyokuni Ⅲ) 1833 At the background, Kunisada copied Hiroshige’s representative piece from Hoeidou edition’s Toukaidou series “Satta Pass at Yui”.The scenery of Satta Pass, which was located between Yui post station and Okitsu post station, is seen from Okitsu side. Satta Pass was known with its magnificent view of Mt. Fuji and in this picture, Mt. Fuji is seen behind the cliff.

Artist: Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III) Production date: 1833 (Tempou 4) At the background, Kunisada copied Hiroshige’s representative piece from Hoeidou edition’s Toukaidou series “Night Snow at Kambara”. Kambara is located near the Pacific Ocean and this place has been known for its mild climate. Therefore, snow in Kambara was a rare climate for this region but he depicts Kambara with snow and succeeded to capture image of Kambara as the tranquil place. The woman riding an ox lets her hair down and shaved on top of the hair. Unfortunately, the source of the image of this picture and its relation to Kambara post station are unknown.

Utagawa Kunisada(Utagawa Toyokuni Ⅲ) 1833 Along the Toukaidou Highway, when heading to Kyoto from Nihonbashi, there are only two scenic points of “Hidari-Fuji”, or the Mt. Fuji appears from the left, which was very rare scenic composition along the Toukaidou Highway (Usually, Mt. Fuji appears from the right side). One of the Hidari-Fuji is Nango (Chigasaki city) located between Fujisawa and Hisatsuka post stations, and the other is Yoshiwra (Fuji city of Shizuoka prefecture).

Utagawa Kunisada(Utagawa Toyokuni Ⅲ) 1833 Hara post station was the closest station to Mt. Fuji in the Toukaidou Highway. In the Hara post station in the Toukaidou series, Mt. Fuji is usually illustrated in a large size.