Utagawa Yoshitsuru

The production date:1862

Five thieves are holding umbrellas. The illustrated scene is one of the highlights of the play that each thief explains his origin and history. The patterns of kimono of Tadanobu Rihei and Nangou Rikimaru are same as the no.51, but there are different patterns as well. In Nihon Daemon’s kimono, magnetic compass and a rope is illustrated. Since he was a head of five men, the items that navigate the other are illustrated. In Benten Kozou’s kimono, the chrysanthemum flowers (Kikunosuke’s “kiku” means chrysanthemum) and a serpent, which is the messenger of the Enoshima Benzaiten Shrine are illustrated. Cherry blossom and cocks are illustrated in Akaboshi Jyuzou, since cock is the bird to tell the morning, which is related to the Akeboshi, the morning star, which is similar to his name Akaboshi.

The Dandy Villains: Shiranami Five Thieves
Shiranami in Japanese literally means "white waves” and it indicates thief. Shiranami Five Thieves appeare in a kabuki play “Aoto-Zoushi Hana no Nishiki-e (The Glorious Picture Book of Aoto’s Exploits)” and one of the five thieves is Benten Kozou Kikunosuke, who has a connection with Enoshima Island since he worked at the temple of Enoshima when he was a boy. The other thieves are Nihon Daemon, who was the head of a bandit and inspired by the famous thief Ishikawa Goemon, Tadanobu Rihei who had power to appear or disappear freely, a beautiful boy thief Akaboshi Jyuzaburou and rowdy thief Nangou Rikimaru. They were very popular as the dandy antiheros among people since they were not entirely evil, although they stole things from the wealthy people.

Artist Unknown
1854
The sensational incident of Commodore Perry’s arrival, better known in Japan as kurofune raikō or the “arrival of the black ships,” brought great tension within the Edo government. In response, the government strengthened the coastal defense along the Bōsō peninsula, through the Edo capital, and south into the Miura peninsula. The map or diagram depicting the coastal defense was called an “Okatame-zu.” The coastline was protected by several fudai daimyō (feudal lords that had generationally been loyal to the Tokugawa regime even prior to their rise to power) from all over Japan. This map shows the defense line around the capital. Odaiba was a fort built to defend the shores closest to the Edo capital. Watch towers, cannons, and flags with the daimyō family crests are illustrated within the diagram.

Utagawa Kuniteru
1869
This print was published to coincide with the 1869’s kaichō¹ ceremony the three shrines of Enoshima Island. The upper half of the print lists the names of members from the Tokiwazu Onna Renchū or the Tokiwazu-style Female Music Instructors Troupe.
The artist, Utagawa Kuniteru, was a pupil of Utagawa Kunisada I and produced many kaika-e depicting new customs and social conditions of the Meiji era.

¹Kaichō is a ceremony of exhibiting treasures, owned by religious institutions such as statutes of Buddha, for a very limited time. Kaichō are typically held once every few years. In the case of Enoshima Island, all three shrines were only opened up every sixty-one years.

Utagawa HiroshigeⅡ 1865 This print depicts the port of Yokohama that had opened in 1859 with a view of Kanagawa. There were only two routes to this port: the first by land using a side route called Yokohama-michi off of the Tōkaidō Highway between Kanagawa and Hodogaya post stations, and the second by sea from Kanagawa post station and its shores. This image illustrates the pier at Yokohama port.

Utagawa Hiroshige Ⅱ（Rissyo）
Production date:1865

In this picture, the rest stop located between post stations “Tateba of Yotsuya”, which was in Fujisawa, is illustrated. Since Oyama-michi (Oyama Road) forks from the Toukaidou Highway from this point, the indication “Oiwake michi (the fork)” is written in the picture.

Utagawa Hiroshige
The production date:1858

Harimaze-e (Paste the mixed pictures) was the picture that several famous places (landscapes, local specialties, stories, etc.) are illustrated in a single picture, and Hiroshige produced several harimaze-e works that illustrated the places all over Japan, including places along the Toukaidou Highway.
In the first painting, from the top layer, Ninhonbashi Bridge (A summer’s custom, a tea stand that provides the barley hot tea.), Shinagawa (Matoi, or a straw craft, which was a local product of Omori. People brought back matoi as a souvenir for the pilgrimage to Mt. Oyama), Kanagawa (A scenery of port), Hodoga-ya (Tome-on’na, or the women who tried to bring in the customers to their inns. People stayed overnight at Hodogaya, before they go back to Edo.), and Kawasaki (Pear, a local specialty of Daishi-gawara) are illustrated.
In the second painting, from the right below, Totsuka (Yakimochi or a toasted rice cake. Since yakimochi was sold at the border of Shinano village and Hirado village, along the slope, this slope was named as Yakimochi Slope), Fujisawa (A woman serving food for the customers of inns),　Yotsuya-oiwake (Yotsuya of Fujisawa city. Oiwake is a fork of road. Oiwake as the place to change human labors and horses are symbolically illustrated with a palanquins and legs of horses), Isehara (A city located at the foot of Mt. Oyama) and Otaki (One of the falls located in Mt. Oyama. Pilgrims purify their body by standing under the waterfall.) are illustrated.
In the third painting, from the right below, Tamura (A ferry to cross the Sagami River from Yotsuya to Oyama), Koyasu (A village located along the road to Mt. Oyama between Isehara and Mt. Oyama.), Mae Fudou of Oyama (A hall located in front of Oyama Temple.), Sekison-ji Raigou-dani (A place where at the time sun sets into Mt. Fuji located at west, the atmosphere of “the decent of Amida Nyorai” emerges.), and Ryoben Waterfall (One of the waterfalls located in Mt. Oyama. It is said that Saint Ryoben purified his body in this waterfall when he opened the Oyama Temple in this place.) are illustrated.
All the famous places and specialties invite viewers to the pilgrimage to Mt. Oyama.