No.48 "Seki: Early Departure from the Honjin" from the series Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido

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No.48

Item Info

Item No: facjp00057
Title: No.48 "Seki: Early Departure from the Honjin" from the series Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido
Media Type: Woodcuts
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:

"In the early 1830's, Hiroshige's first landscape prints appeared. He subsequently became the leading landscape artist and was especially known for his series on the Tokaido highway that connected Edo (present day Tokyo) with Kyoto. The earliest and most famous of these, generally known by the name of the publisher as 'Hoeido ban Tokaido' (Tokaido published by Hoeido), was issued from 1832-33. Hiroshige III stated sixty years later that Hiroshige's designs are after sketches he took during a journey to Kyoto, however, most of his designs are undoubtedly inspired from illustrations in guide books like the Tokaido meisho zue ('Gathering of Views of Famouse Sightss alonf the Tokaido;' 1797) and even this alleged journey cannot be verified."

from "Japanese Woodblock Prints: Artists, Publishers and Masterworks 1680-1900", Andreas Marks. Tuttle Publishing. p.132


Notes:

note card with print

Station 48

Seki: Early Departure from the Honjin.  A honjin, of which there were two at Seki, was an inn where daimyos used to stop during their journy through the Tokaido. The curtains around the inn are festooned with the crest of the daimyo - bridles within a circle. The object in the foreground, just right of center, is a notice board. Seki was one of the chief government checkpoints during the Edo period - it's name, means "checkpoint" - and from it one might depart for Iga, Yamato, and Ise, as well as for the next station of the Tokaido. Since prosperous travelers stopped at Seki, it was famous for its large number of prostitutes.


Bibliography:

https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/125651

https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/370941

https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/703108

https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/2030739

https://www.hiroshige.org.uk/Tokaido_Series/Tokaido_Great.htm



Creation Year: ca. 1834
Image Dimensions Width: 22.5 cm
Call Number: Woodblock Prints - The Fifty-three Stations of the T?kaid? Road
Creator Name: Hiroshige, Utagawa, 1797-1858 - Artist

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