Utagawa Kunisada(Utagawa Toyokuni Ⅲ) 1833 After Miya post station, the background landscapes are changed to Kunisada’s original landscape, but the background of Yokkaichi post station is the only exception. In this picture, Kunisada used the background of “Yokkaichi, Mie River” from Hoeidou edition of Hiroshige’s Toukaidou series. Mie River flew the center of the Yokkaichi post station. Across the meadow, extended ocean is illustrated and the masts of the ships dock at the port are illustrated at the left on the back of the rows of houses. A young woman is illustrated with the customs of married woman by shaving her eyebrow and tinting her teeth in black. In the Hiroshige’s Hoeidou edition’s work, the sedge-woven hat blown by wind was located right near the traveler, but in this picture, hat is blown away in a distance across a woman illustrated at the foreground.

Artist: Utagawa Yoshitsuya Production date: 1863 (Bunkyu 3) The Toukaidou: Hodogaya At the upper part the workers from inns are all lined, and the procession is passing through in front of them. At the bonfire, people from the procession light the smoking pipes. The black part at the bonfire was originally printed with vivid vermilion color but it turn into black because of the oxidation of the vivid orange pigment tan.   This series was published with the event of the Fourteenth Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi’s procession from Tokyo to Kyoto (Shogun’s official visit to Emperor) that took place in 1863 (Bunkyu 3) and it is known as “Gojouraku Toukaidou (Samurai’s procession along the Toukaidou Highway)”. Iemochi’s visit was an unusual event since last time Tokugawa Shogun visited Emperor was 229 years ago when the Third Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu visited Emperor. Therefore this event got a huge attention from the people of Edo. This series was very popular that 162 works were produced within this series. Since 16 artists from Utagawa School were involved for the production, it is considered that the publisher wanted to produce many works within a short period of time.

Utagawa Yoshikazu The production date: 1853 (Kaei 6) Two men at Kusatsu post station are eating petite size local sweet, “Uba-ga-mochi (Antie’s Dumpling)”, the dumpling with the sweet bean paste inside. It seems two men already ate quite a lot of the dumplings, and especially a man sitting on the right seems full. At Kyoto, a woman standing at the Sanjou Ohashi Bridge, the destination of the Toukaidou Highway, is “Oharame”, the women venders unique to Kyoto region. They dressed in a distinctive ways such as wrapping a towel like cloth called tenugui around their head. They sold their products, such as fire wood and they put their products on their head as they walked around. Many Utagawa school ukiyo-e artists published the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway”. In this distinctive series, Yoshikazu introduced the legends and episodes that related to the post stations of the Toukaidou Highway humorously. Generally, he produced humorous pictures with horizontal small ko-ban size format. 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 Yoshikazu The production date: 1853 (Kaei 6) Otsu Station was famed for rice cake of Miidera Temple called chikara(muscular)-mochi. “With chikara-mochi, you can't lose,” went a popular saying. The print shows the famous Gozu Tenno of Otsu (gozu means “bull-headed,” but this is actually the name of a deva that does not have the head of a bull) performing for travelers by lifting huge stones. The print for Kyoto, the end of the Toukaidou, is a picture of a wedding scene, as if to celebrate the end of the journey. But something seems odd about it. The groom appears to be drunk after downing many cups of sake. The bride, in contrast, steadily digs her chopsticks into a big bowl of rice, with the rice tub in front of her. The woman serving the two looks flustered. Many Utagawa school ukiyo-e artists published the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway”. In this distinctive series, Yoshikazu introduced the legends and episodes that related to the post stations of the Toukaidou Highway humorously. Generally, he produced humorous pictures with horizontal small ko-ban size format. 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 Yoshikazu The production date: 1853 (Kaei 6) Otsu Station was famed for rice cake of Miidera Temple called chikara(muscular)-mochi. “With chikara-mochi, you can't lose,” went a popular saying. The print shows the famous Gozu Tenno of Otsu (gozu means “bull-headed,” but this is actually the name of a deva that does not have the head of a bull) performing for travelers by lifting huge stones. The print for Kyoto, the end of the Toukaidou, is a picture of a wedding scene, as if to celebrate the end of the journey. But something seems odd about it. The groom appears to be drunk after downing many cups of sake. The bride, in contrast, steadily digs her chopsticks into a big bowl of rice, with the rice tub in front of her. The woman serving the two looks flustered. Many Utagawa school ukiyo-e artists published the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway”. In this distinctive series, Yoshikazu introduced the legends and episodes that related to the post stations of the Toukaidou Highway humorously. Generally, he produced humorous pictures with horizontal small ko-ban size format. 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 Yoshikazu The production date: 1853 (Kaei 6) Two men at Kusatsu post station are eating petite size local sweet, “Uba-ga-mochi (Antie’s Dumpling)”, the dumpling with the sweet bean paste inside. It seems two men already ate quite a lot of the dumplings, and especially a man sitting on the right seems full. At Kyoto, a woman standing at the Sanjou Ohashi Bridge, the destination of the Toukaidou Highway, is “Oharame”, the women venders unique to Kyoto region. They dressed in a distinctive ways such as wrapping a towel like cloth called tenugui around their head. They sold their products, such as fire wood and they put their products on their head as they walked around. Many Utagawa school ukiyo-e artists published the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway”. In this distinctive series, Yoshikazu introduced the legends and episodes that related to the post stations of the Toukaidou Highway humorously. Generally, he produced humorous pictures with horizontal small ko-ban size format. 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 Yoshikazu The production date: 1853 (Kaei 6) The print for Sakanoshita is the scene in which the bottom falls out of a wood-fired bathing tub in the Yaji and Kita on the Road comedy. In Jippensha Ikku's Shank’s Mare Tour of the Toukaidou Highway, the same scene is set at Odawara Station. Minakuchi was famous for its kanpyo (dried strips of gourd). White gourd strips are hanging out to dry on a fence before a house. The man leading the horse is astounded at the big object in the form of a face. This is actually the fruit of the calabash (whose Japanese name translates “moon-face”). Kanpyo was made by peeling off strips of calabash. Many Utagawa school ukiyo-e artists published the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway”. In this distinctive series, Yoshikazu introduced the legends and episodes that related to the post stations of the Toukaidou Highway humorously. Generally, he produced humorous pictures with horizontal small ko-ban size format. 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 Yoshikazu The production date: 1853 (Kaei 6) The Tsuchiyama Station print is a picture of a teahouse interior. The two guests sitting on the bench are surprised when a woman wearing heavy make-up comes to offer them tea. Her kimono has a pattern of a bull's eye arrow, which stands for yaba (“arrow-place”), an argot term for brothels. Ishibe calls to mind the story of the love-suicide by Choemon, the proprietor of a kimono sash store, and Ohan, the daughter of the owner of the Shinanoya store next door, in the joruri (puppet-theater) play of Chikamatsu titled Katsuragawa Renri no Shigarami. It was famous as the location of the inn where the two first met when staying there. The pair in the print could be Ohan and Choemon. Many Utagawa school ukiyo-e artists published the series “Fifty-three Stations of the Toukaidou Highway”. In this distinctive series, Yoshikazu introduced the legends and episodes that related to the post stations of the Toukaidou Highway humorously. Generally, he produced humorous pictures with horizontal small ko-ban size format. 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 ).