color woodcut, ink on paper, 22x34 cm, signed by the artist; on the reverse, a seal bearing the names of the artisans: carved by Kentaro Maeda, printed by Taro Ito
To reach OkabeStation , travelers had to cross a steep and narrow mountain pass. The road ran through a steep valley, with the rushing Okabe River flowing alongside it. This road looks dangerous because there is no guardrail on the river side, and when it rained, the ground here became muddy and slippery. For this reason, it was one of the most dangerous sections of the Tokaido Road. On the road, three men carrying bundles of brush on their backs can be seen walking toward the viewer. At the bottom, two women are walking uphill—a traveler carrying a heavy bundle and a local woman with firewood on her back. The gray mountains visible in the distance are known as “Utsu no Yama.”
The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō is a series of 55 woodblock prints depicting the 53 post stations (shukuba) and two important points along the route: the starting point—the Nihonbashi Bridge in Edo—and the endpoint—the great Sanjo Bridge in Kyoto. The road stretched over 500 kilometers, connecting the shogunate’s capital with the former imperial capital. The fifty-three stations served as rest stops for horses and porters, offering lodging, restaurants, and geisha houses for travelers who, under favorable weather conditions, could cover this distance on foot in two weeks. Among these travelers were feudal lords (daimyō), who were required to stay at the shogun’s court every two years and travel there and back in massive processions.
In 1832, Hiroshige traveled with an entourage of shogunate officials from Edo (Tokyo) to Kyoto along the Tōkaidō. This journey was an eye-opening and life-changing experience for him. After the journey, he returned to Edo and began work on a series of woodblock prints based on the sketches he had made. Published in 1833–1834, the series *Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō* (Hoeido Tokaido), published between 1833 and 1834, earned Hiroshige immense acclaim from both critics and the public. He skillfully captured atmospheric and mood-filled weather conditions, depicting fog, rain, snow, and evening lighting effects. He balanced these poetic landscapes by adding figures, which serve as a personal element in these works. The series offers viewers the opportunity to travel back in time to Hiroshige’s Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate and to see that life as the artist experienced it. The series became so popular that its continuous reprinting during the Edo period led to the complete destruction of the printing blocks from the first edition.
Ukiyo-e woodblock prints have been reprinted several times since the Edo period, always using traditional methods. From the early 20th century onward, the Yuyudopublishing house stood out as one of the finest publishers in Japan. It adhered to the same rigorous standards as 19th-century publishers, while some of its peers cut corners. In the 1950s, when interest in Edo-period woodblock prints resurged, Yuyudo launched a project to reprint the works of the great masters from the golden age of ukiyo-e. To this end, they hired the world’s finest printers and carvers. The resulting works are among the highest-quality editions ever produced. Yuyudo woodblock prints are exceptionally well-crafted and meticulously executed. The publishing house ceased operations and stopped publishing in the 1980s.
