Hiroshige Turns a Travel Route into a Print Series

According to a traditional account, in 1832 the Japanese woodblock artist Utagawa Hiroshige traveled the length of the Tokaido road from Edo to Kyoto as part of an official shogunate delegation presenting a ceremonial horse to the emperor. The story was not recorded until some sixty years later, however, and many scholars now doubt that he made the journey under those circumstances. The Tokaido, meaning Eastern Sea Road, formed the primary travel and transit artery of the country. Established under Tokugawa Ieyasu as the most vital of the five official highways, it consolidated central administrative oversight by linking the administrative center in Edo with the imperial capital. Along the route stood fifty-three designated post stations where travelers acquired lodging, meals, and fresh pack animals.

Whatever its origins, Hiroshige turned the highway into a landmark set of woodblock prints. The resulting compilation, titled The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, was initially issued in 1833 and concluded in 1834. Senkakudo and Hoeido published the initial prints together, after which Hoeido assumed responsibility for producing the rest of the run. While the title cited fifty-three stations, the full Hoeido release actually encompassed fifty-five individual sheets. Hiroshige framed the sequence with two additional compositions: an opening print showing departure from the Nihonbashi bridge in Edo, and a concluding view depicting Keishi, the terminus in Kyoto.