Utagawa HiroshigeⅢ The production date:1875 The view of Sakaigi, after climbing up the Gonta-zaka Slope is illustrated in this picture. Tateba is a rest spot between post stations. This place was the border (Sakai means border in Japanese) of Musashi Province (Hodogaya post station) and Sagami Province (Totsuka station) and known for its steep slope. The teahouse at the top of the slope was famous for botamochi, a rice ball coated with sweetened red beans and the travelers enjoyed the great view with the Kamakura-yama in a distance. In the middle of the picture, the utility pole was built using a natural tree. A group of people, illustrated in front, wearing the same straw hats and hanten (a traditional jacket) and carrying a omiki-waku (a water and lacquer container) are the pilgrims from Mt. Oyama. The modern items such as two wheeled cart and utility pole of the Meiji period, and the traditional view of the pilgrimage to Mt. Oyama are merged in this picture.

Utagawa Yoshikazu The production date: 1853 (Kaei 6) The landmark of Fujisawa, Yugyouji temple is illustrated on the background. The figures in front are Oguri-Hangan, Princess Terute and a horse face figure Onikage, the Oguri’s horse. They are the legendary figures related to Fujisawa. In the legend, Oguri Hangan mastered to ride the unruly cannibal horse Onikage and there is an episode that Oguri even controlled Onikage to ride on the small go board (Go is a board game, similar to chess.) with its four legs. However, in this picture, Oguri and Onikage are intimately playing go board game together. Utagawa Yoshikazu Date of birth and death unknown Yoshikazu was a pupil of Utagawa Kuniyoshi and active from the Kaei era till Meiji 3 (1848~1870). He also used the artist names such as Shunsai and Ichikawa. He produced many worrier pictures, kacho-ga (pictures of birds and flowers), and Yokohama-e (ukiyo-e depicting foreigner’s life styles or the scenes of Yokohama). He also produced illustrations of kusa-zoshi (books with illustrations ).

Utagawa　Hiroshige 1855 The huge Mt. Fuji that sticks out from the picture frame is depicted. At the foot of Mt. Fuji, Mt. Ashitaka is depicted with the acute-angled ridgeline. By depicting Mt. Fuji in this way, this picture expresses how huge Mt. Fuji can be viewed from Hara post station. The series, “Views of Famous Places of Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou” was produced in 1855, when Hiroshige was 59 years old, and this is his last Toukaidou series. This series is also called “The Toukaidou in Vertical Pictures” since it is produced as the series of vertical pictures. It is considered the vertical composition is not suitable for landscape pictures since it is difficult to find the good balance in the space. However Hiroshige, the master of landscape pictures used this composition in a distinctive way, created the masterpiece series.

Utagawa Hiroshige The production date: 1855 (Ansei 2) Publisher: Tsutaya Kichizou At the vertical picture series, people working at the filed are illustrated at the foreground, and the Toukaidou Highway is illustrated at the background horizontally. Mt. Fuji can be seen among the pine trees. Since all works from this series are the vertical prints, it is generally called “The Toukaidou in Vertical Pictures”. This work was produced in Hiroshige’s late year, when he was fifty-nine. In this series of the views of famous places, almost all post-stations are illustrated in the bird’s-eye-view and the perspective is used to illustrate the rows of houses and streets.