Japan: Ōta-juku (太田宿), Station 51 of 'The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Nakasendo (Kisokaido)' Utagawa Hiroshige (1835-1838)

The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō (木曾街道六十九次 Kiso Kaidō Rokujūkyū-tsugi) or Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Road, is a series of ukiyo-e works created by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) and Keisai Eisen (1790-1848).

There are 71 total prints in the series (one for each of the 69 post stations and Nihonbashi; Nakatsugawa-juku has two prints). The common name for the Kiso Kaidō is 'Nakasendō' or 'Central Mountain Highway', so this series is salso commonly referred to as the Sixty-nine Stations of the Nakasendō.

The Nakasendō was one of the Five Routes constructed under Tokugawa Ieyasu, a series of roads linking the historical capitol of Edo with the rest of Japan. The Nakasendō connected Edo with the then-capital of Kyoto. It was an alternate route to the Tōkaidō and travelled through the central part of Honshū, thus giving rise to its name, which means 'Central Mountain Road'. Along this road, there were sixty-nine different post stations (-shuku or -juku), which provided stables, food, and lodging for travelers.

Eisen produced the first 11 prints of the series, from Nihonbashi to Honjō-shuku, stretching from Tokyo to Saitama Prefecture. After that, Hiroshige took over production of the series.

Copyright:

Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Credit:

Pictures From History

Theme:

69 Nakasendo Stations