Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) Fifty-three Parallels for the Tokaido Road (Tokaido gojusan tsui) Numazu Station: Travellers on the Road, 1845-46. Oban.
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The series is fascinating in that it was a collaboration of the three great artists of the day: Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige and Kunisada. The exact number of prints is unknown, but it is assumed currently that they produced 30, 20 and 8 respectively. The series is a precursor to one of the very best series of prints of the 19th century, A Comparison of the Ogura Poets from 1847, in which the same three artists collaborated on a series celebrating the great Japanese poems. There are many compositional similarities to the two series… the unusual, aberrant cartouches, and the one third, two thirds division of the oban page. Both series were attempts by artists and publishers to circumvent the recently imposed censorship laws for woodblock prints. These punitive laws, called the Tenpo Reforms were designed to quell opposition to the government by creating a less decadent society. Of course the attempt failed but it nevertheless acted as a stimulant to the artists of the day, encouraging them to find creative ways to find new subjects. The prints have delightful cartouches which contain either the story of the myth or historical subject or a suitable poem.
In this case the subject matter is broad: travellers on the Kisokaido Road. But the poem, by Kuniyoshi’s friend Umeya Kakuju forms an amusing link to the notoriously muddy region:
Travellers here make a long stay
and it is just as hard for them to move on
as if they were in a swamp
Kuniyoshi depicts two travellers — one male the other female —and their porter stopping at a grave. The female appears to be laying flowers. A pun may be intended from the form of the poem to the idea of a grave… the permanence of the visit! The series title is in the large black cartouche in the upper right and the tsuba shaped cartouches contain the poem and the information.
Colour, condition and impression are all very good.
24.5 x 36.5 cm.
