Torii Kiyonaga 1781-89 This is one part of three pieces. In the foreground, some women in travelling costume, and in the background, Enoshima Island and Mt.Fuji are visible. Although this is part of three-part study the composition is well planned with Enoshima Island viewed from the beach conveying the vastness and dynamism of the sea.

Utagawa　Kunisada(Utagawa ToyokuniⅢ)　 1857 The depicted scene shows the enemy of the Soga brothers, Kudo Saemon Suketsune and his group, flying a kite. This play is called Soga-mono (plays related to the Soga brothers). This play is part of a series of works that the Soga brothers appear in. Although this scene doesn’t directly depict the Soga brothers. Soga-mono plays are often performed as part of new year festivities. Kunisada came up with a very witty composition where three ukiyo-e works are arranged in an irregular way.

Views of the stations along the Tokaido Highway are painted on these two folding screens, which form a pair. The red labels found here and there on them indicate the place-name of each station, and the white labels, the names of famous sights. The artist made detailed renderings of the people traveling down the highway and the buildings along it. The work affords a glimpse of overland traffic in the Edo period.

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Utagawa Hiroshige 1854 Although having the appearance of a woman, the figure on the right is actually a man. We can see the shadow of a recently shaved beard around his mouth. This picture is probably a reference to “Ofudamaki”, a festival at Yasakajinja Shrine in Totsuka. During the “Ofudamaki” festival, male shrine parishioners dress up as women and throw out talisman as they dance. The inset shows the view seen from Kanagawa Station looking toward Honmoku in Yokohama. The black land we can see in the distance in the middle is probably Miura Peninsula.

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Utagawa Hiroshige 1854 This work depicts Soga no Juro-sukenari and his lover, Tora Gozen, well known figures in the tale of the Revenge of the Soga Brothers. The Revenge of the Soga Brothers is the tale of the brothers, Soga no Juro-sukenari and Soga Goro-tokimune, avenging their father’s death. The tale is frequently performed as a stage play and is especially popular as a Kabuki play. The Juro depicted in this picture is believed to be the Kabuki actor third-generation Sawamura Sojuro. In the background, we can see Mount Komayama and the Koyurugi seashore. It is likely that the scenery depicted here could be seen when walking along the Toukaidou from the east.

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Utagawa Hiroshige 1854 The character looking up at Mount Fuji is Saigyou Houshi, a priest and poet who lived from the late Heian Period into the Kamakura Period. He has stopped on his way to Oshu and is writing a poem about Mount Fuji. Mount Fuji can be seen along Saigyou Houshi’s line of vision with large pine trees in front. It is likely that the artist chose this view because Mount Fuji seen to the left between pine trees before Yoshiwara Station was known as “Hidari Fuji,” or Fuji on the left, and was a famous view. There were only two spots along the route from Edo to Kyoto where Mount Fuji could be seen on the left (The other was the rest area between stations at Nango). This work gives the viewer a real sense of actually being there.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 1878-1882 Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s “Mirror of Famous Generals of Japan” is a series of fifty-one ukiyo-e prints produced in the early Meiji Period. The series depicts shoguns, heroes, warlords and other great commanders from Japan’s mythological era to the early Edo Period. This work depicts a scene from Minamoto no Yoritomo’s hojoe (Buddhist “life release” ritual), in which he reportedly released a thousand cranes at Yui-ga-hama beach.

Utagawa Sadahide 1844 After defeating the Taira clan at Dan-no-ura in 1185, Minamoto no Yoritomo held a memorial service for his father Yoshitomo in Kamakura. The honorific term u-bakuka in the Japanese title refers to the residence of the eastern commander as well as Yoritomo himself. Yoritomo is depicted under the eaves on the left, carrying his son Manju-maru on his shoulders among a crowd of his vassals. He is accompanied by Hojo Yoshitoki (son of Hojo Tokimasa). The work shows us Yoritomo’s retainers at the time.