A Witness to History

A photographic introduction to items from the collection

Color Woodblock Prints of the Tokaido

Counting by the traditional system, this year marks the 400th anniversary of the Tokaido Highway. In the sixth year of Keicho (1601), a system of horses posted at lodgings along the Tokaido was instituted by order of Ieyasu. This can be considered the origins of the establishment of the so-called 53 stages of the Tokaido.

The construction of a highway connecting Edo and Kyoto not only increased the incidence of travel by common people, but also had a great influence on the publishing culture. In response to the needs of the expanding number of travelers, various depictions of the highway, travelers' journals and illustrations of famous locations were published. Collections of famous places, containing explanations of the origins, history and highlights of these places, as well as detailed illustrations, can be likened to modern travel guidebooks. However, these works were also used as reading materials through which one could vicariously experience the famous sites in various areas without traveling to them. This is exemplified in the senryu poem by Yanagidaru (120 collection):
"Tired of reading
I stop in this guidebook
Illustrations of Famous Places"
Regarding reading materials, there were also more than a few works of literature which used the Tokaido as their setting, such as the kanazoshi work "Chikusai" and the humor book "Hizakurige."

Ukiyo-e prints of famous places were the most flamboyant vehicles for vicarious travel. Collections of color woodblock prints on the theme of the 53 stages of the Tokaido by artists such as Utagawa Toyohiro and Katsushika Hokusai were published from around the beginning of the nineteenth century. The most monumental of these was "53 Stages of the Tokaido" (containing 55 prints) by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). The work was published around the fourth year of Tenpo (1833) by Hoeido. This set of prints, which is so famous that even now it is used in many products' designs, was also a long seller at the time it was originally published. It also set the direction of color woodblock prints of the Tokaido from that time on. Works of the Tokaido that preceded Hiroshige's contained scenes of each stage, but the works centered on human figures and did not depict the atmosphere of the area. The Hoeido edition of "53 Stages of the Tokaido" included scenes of the highway in different seasons and is full of the spirit of the traveler. Subsequently, Hiroshige himself produced many sets of color woodblock prints of the Tokaido, and Utagawa Kunisada (third generation Toyokuni) and Keisai Eisen, artists of the same era, were influenced by Hiroshige and, even in portraits where the main character is a kabuki actor or a beautiful woman, their backgrounds include elements of Tokaido-style pictures with their detailed depictions of the surroundings.

Nonetheless, these woodblock prints of the Tokaido were not always realistic depictions of scenes of the highway at that time. In the Hoeido edition "53 Stages of the Tokaido," there were many illustrations of lodgings in the first half of the collection, and lodgings near Kyoto in the second half that have been identified as being based on the picture book "Illustrations of Famous Places on the Tokaido." In some pictures the scenery depicted can only be thought to have been the product of the artist's imagination. However, the figures of travelers on the highway are effective graphic reference materials for learning about manners and customs of the times. The group of works known as "Proceeding to the Capital Along the Tokaido" (Joraku Tokaido), which show the processions to the capital which were initiated by Shogun Ieshige at the end of the Edo Period, works incorporating the "civilization and enlightenment" (kaika) style, and other works are valuable reference materials which allow us a glimpse of the social conditions, travel by commoners, and awareness of the highway at that time.

(Okubo Jun-ichi, Main Collection Information Reference Research Department)