Utagawa Hiroshige
1840

The mountain pass of Hakone in the darkness is illustrated. Deepness of the valley on the right side of the mountain pass is emphasized with the cliff illustrated on the left. Since Hakone mountain pass became very slippery and dangerous for travelers if it was wet with rain, the road was paved with stones.

Utagawa Yoshiyuki
The production date: 1847-1854 (Kouka 4-late Kaei era)
Publisher: unknown

The sign on this picture is Ichiryousai Yoshiyuki. He was a pupil of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, but there are only few works left behind till today.
Three women are having fun throwing coins at Shichiri-ga-hama Beach and let the naked kids to pick up the coins. On their back, the raging waves are illustrated. Both palanquin-bearers on the left have tattoos on their bodies.

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Utagawa Hiroshige
1854

This picture shows a scene at an inn. The woman has blackened teeth and appears to be carrying sake and snacks for a party. We can see how the man has been waiting with anticipation from his expression and body language.
Located approximately 42 kilometers from Edo, Totsuka Station was a place where many travelers coming from Edo spent a night. Gontasaka Hill, the ascending road shown in the inset, was one of several at Totsuka Station, and was notorious for being difficult to negotiate.

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Utagawa Hiroshige
1854

The boxes made of straw held by the woman and child were famous products of Omori. Omori was a post station located between the Shinagawa and Kawasaki stations. Items made of straw are also sold as famous products at Kawasaki Daishi Temple.
The famous scene depicted is this picture is the Rokugo river crossing. A bridge was built across the river in 1600, but after being repeatedly repaired and finally swept away in 1688, ferries were used to cross the river as shown in this picture until the Meiji period (1868 - 1912).

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Utagawa Hiroshige
1854

This work depicts a mother and her child crossing the Nihonbashi bridge. The child is holding a doll of a spear carrier. The spear carrier shown here is a man who walks at the head of a daimyo’s procession carrying a spear topped with bird feathers.
In the inset behind the two figures, we can see Nihonbashi bridge with large bridge girders in the foreground. In the distance, we can see Mount Fuji and Edo Castle.

Utagawa HiroshigeⅡ
1863
Consisting of ten consecutive prints that create one bird’s eye view of the Tōkaidō Highway, this great work had been created during 14th Tokugawa Shōgunate, Tokugawa Iemochi’s visit to Kyoto. The entire work is made to resemble the shape of a scroll, with the shōgun’s procession depicted with the numerous post stations and famous places, that could be found along the way.

Utagawa Hiroshige
1840

The seaside scenery of the highway of Odawara is depicted. On the back, local fishermen are hauling seine at the beach. The sea breeze is suggested with the depiction of fluttering raincoat that a traveler wears, who stands in the middle of the picture. The white sails depicted on the horizon suggest a vast expanse of the ocean and even the large pine trees depicted on the foreground do not ruin the feeling of the open space.

Utagawa Hiroshige
1840

In this picture, a bird’s-eye view of Oiso post station along the highway and the Sagami bay is depicted. By depicting a distant view of white sailboats on the horizontal coast line, the distance between Oiso to Izu Pennisula is expressed. Oiso was a famous tourist site since there was the “Tiger Stone”, which name is based on Tora-gozen, a woman character from a famous revenge story “Soga Monogatari (The Revenge of Soga Brother)”.