No.55 "Kyoto: The Great Sanjo Bridge" from the series Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido
Fine Arts The Japanese Prints: Ancient and ModernItem Info
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:
"The picture lacks the tenseness of 'Nihombashi', where the journey down the Tokaido was begun, but for this very reason it seems an appropriate finis to Hiroshige's album. Though the composition is fairly ordinary, it has stability and character, and the total effect is restful."
from "The Fifty-Three Stages of the Tokaido by Hiroshige", Tokyo, Japan. Heibonsha Ltd., Publishers, 1960. plate 55
https://catalog.freelibrary.org/Record/125651
Notes:
The Final print in the series "Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido." Hiroshige depicts the end of the journey from Edo to Kyoto. Mt Hiei appears in the background.
From note card with print
Station 55
Kyoto: The Great Sanjo Bridge. After passing the Osaka checkpoint, the traveler descends a gradual slope, with Mount Hiei on his right, and the splendors of Kyoto itself begin to unfold before his eyes in the distance. He reaches the Great Bridge of Sanjo, and as he crosses it, with Higashiyama and Hiei in the background, he realizes that his long, wearisome and exciting journey has at last ended, and he may now do his all-important sightseeing on the capital. His journey may have taken him two weeks or, if the weather was bad, twice that, but he knows now that it was worth it. And Hiroshige knew, as he crossed the bridge, that the horses of the shogun, which he had accompanied all the way from Edo, would be safely presented to the emporer. Did he also know that he had made sketches of the floating world that were destined to immortality?
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. 1833
Image Dimensions Width: 22 cm
Call Number: Woodblock Prints - The Fifty-three Stations of the T?kaid? Road
Creator Name: Hiroshige, Utagawa, 1797-1858 - Artist
Takenouchi Magohachi - Publisher