This is the section on Sagami Province in the list of regional products published in 1875. Shellwork and seafood are listed as products of Fujisawa and Kamakura. Finless porpoise is also mentioned to be from Enoshima. “Hoshifuri ume” (Starry plum) is also listed as the specialty of Jikkenzaka, Chigasaki.

Did these travelers just arrive at the post town? On the right side of the screen, a woman is getting off a palanquin. In the center, a woman and two children are riding a horse with a three-person saddle called Sampō-Kōjin, led by a horse driver. The signboard propped against the wall of an inn-like building says “Edo Jihon-donya Daidaikō-chū.” It is a signboard with the name of the regular customers of the inn. Daidaikō is a group of pilgrims to Ise Shrine. The members save up funds for the travel, and those who win the lottery go on the pilgrimage as representatives. As they dedicate daidai-kagura performance to the shrine, it was also called Ise Daidaikō. Daidai-kagura was the largest kagura performance dedicated by general visitors and held for half a day at the house of the shrine master during the Edo period. Kitagawa Tsukimaro was a student of Utamaro and used to draw nishiki-e under the name of Kikumaro, but later renamed Tsukimaro. He was famous for his paintings of beautiful women and illustrations in picture books.

Utagawa Chikashige 1880 This picture depicts a kabuki dance with the theme of the pilgrimage to Mt. Oyama, which was performed in 1880 (Meiji 13). The portraits of seven kabuki actors, as they play the seven main characters from the story, are depicted (six works are on display).

Utagawa Chikashige 1880 This picture depicts a kabuki dance with the theme of the pilgrimage to Mt. Oyama, which was performed in 1880 (Meiji 13). The portraits of seven kabuki actors, as they play the seven main characters from the story, are depicted (six works are on display).

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige 1847-1852 (Kouka-Kaei 5), Publisher: Maruya Seijirou At the reisho script series, the night scene of Fujisawa post station is illustrated. The Torii gate illustrated at the right is the entrance of the Enoshima “The First Torii gate”. The bridge illustrated in the middle is Daigiri Bridge (Today’s Yugyouji Bridge). Various kind of people, such as the travelers arriving at the post station and woman touting customers are illustrated. At the vertical picture series, the pine trees of Nango and Mt. Fuji are illustrated. This place was famous for its scenic point of “Hidari-Fuji”, or the Mt. Fuji appears from the left. “Hidari-Fuji” along the Toukaidou Highway is very rare since this can be seen only from Nango and Yoshiwara post station. This series is called Reisho script version of the Toukaidou according to the script style of the title, and recognized as the one of the three premier series of the Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway with Houeidou version and Gyousho script version. In the picture the view of the twilight time of Fujisawa Post Station is illustrated. The Torii gate on the right is the First Torii Gate, which is the entrance of Enoshima Island, and the bridge on the left is the Daigiri Bridge (present day Yugyouji Bridge). The enliven mood of the station with the employees of motels trying to catch travelers just arrived at the station is illustrated. 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.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi Production date:1842 Three children are working to produce silk from the cocoons of silkworms. A girl is boiling cocoons in a pot, the other girl reels the filaments unbound from the cocoons and a boy dries the silk in skein on a drying rod.

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Utagawa Hiroshige 1854 The woman appears to have just bathed. This picture resembles the hot spring towns stretching from Odawara to Hakone. The young girl looking up at the woman has her hand in a box containing toys such as spinning tops. We can also see a wooden mosaic box as well as the toy basket. Wooden toys and boxes such as these are still specialties in this area today. The inset shows Sakawagawa River and the mountains of Hakone. Since, for the purpose of defense, there were no bridges or ferries, travelers crossed the river on foot. Odawara Castle can be seen at the far right of the picture.

Utagawa Hiroshige The production date: 1848-1852 (Kouka 4-Kaei 5) Publisher: Fujikei (Fujiya Keijirou) Since the women in the pictures are illustrated in a large size in the front, this series is called “Toukaidou with Beauties”. Today, Hiroshige is best known as a premier landscape painter, but he was also known for his supreme paintings of the beauties. It is assumed that this woman is on the way back from Enoshima Island, since there is a note at the right edge, underneath the title, and it indicates “The Pilgrimage to Enoshima Island of Sagami Province”. Inside of the containers put on the basket palanquin beside the woman was an Enoshima’s local specialty, the abalone pickled in sake lees. At the upper part of the picture, the scenery of Fujisawa post station with Mt. O-yama on the back is illustrated.