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Japan: Hamamatsu (浜松). Station 29 of 'The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō' (Hōeidō edition), Utagawa Hiroshige (1833-1834)

Japan: Hamamatsu (浜松). Station 29 of 'The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō' (Hōeidō edition), Utagawa Hiroshige (1833-1834)

Hamamatsu: A party of coolies warming themselves by a bonfire beside a large tree, a traveller, with a pipe in hand, looking on, and a peasant woman carrying a child on her back, approaching from the right. Bare, flat rice-fields, across which stand the castle and village in the background. This plate depicts a wintry rural scene on the outskirts of Hamamatsu Station. The village and Hamamatsu Castle are visible in the distance. Hiroshige always depicted travellers and local people appropriate to the landscape and setting.

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).

The Tōkaidō (東海道 East Sea Road) was the most important of the Five Routes of the Edo period, connecting Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. Unlike the inland and less heavily travelled Nakasendō, the Tōkaidō travelled along the sea coast of eastern Honshū, hence the route's name.

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