Hiroshige: Station Seki from the Figure Tokaido (Sold)

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

Wearing a bemused smile, a woman adjusts her legs as she gets comfortable atop the horse she has hired at Station Seki, the 47th station on the Tokaido Road. Her guide has stopped to let her get situated; we can almost hear their exchange. Behind her is another woman atop a second horse. The horses all wear straw horseshoes and have fringed caparisons covering their hindquarters. Station Seki was 3.7 miles west of Kameyama, and “Seki” means “barrier checkpoint”, as a checkpoint was located here for hundreds of years. 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.

Dimensions: chûban 24.5 x 17.5 
Publisher: Muraichi
Signature: Hiroshige ga

SKU: HIR518