Hiroshige: Station Fujikawa 藤川 of the People's Tokaido

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858)
Title: Station Fujikawa 藤川
Series: Fifty-three Stations [of the Tôkaidô Road] (Gojusan tsugi); Also known as the Jinbutsu, or Figure Tokaido 五十三次
Date: 1852

Station Fujikawa, number 38 on the Tokaido Road. We glimpse the interior area of a humble rest stop, with an old woman seated next to a kettle atop a cooking fire. Our slice of the street includes a man who carries a large red tengu mask attached to his portable shrine, which he carries for the pilgrimage to Kompira Shrine on Shikoku Island atop Mt. Kotohira. (Hiroshige also included a man carrying a tengu mask in his design for Station Numazu of his Hoiedo Tokaido.) We also see two more travelers on the street, one an old man and one a young woman; perhaps they travel together.  Hiroshige produced more than three dozen Tokaido series following the success of the Hoeido Tokaido in 1833. This one is known as the “Figure Tokaido” or the “Mankind’ Tokaido”, as the individuals feature prominantly, rather than being bit players to the landscape as with most of his other Tokaido series.

SKU: HIR526