Japanese Print "The Tenryü River at Mitsuke (Station #29)" by Utagawa Hiroshige

Title:The Tenryü River at Mitsuke (Station #29)

Date:c. 1833 - 1834

Source:Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description:

The twenty-ninth station of the Tökaidö, Mitsuke is located in current Shizuoka Prefecture. This scene depicts the bank of an islet in the Tenryü River, where two oarsmen await customers who have crossed to the islet and will transfer to their boats in order to complete the crossing. In the background, other groups of travelers cross in ferry boats. Many major rivers along the Tökaidö Road were intentionally not equipped with bridges, as a governmental strategy to make them less accessible to enemy attacks. This created a need for transportation businesses, as depicted in this print. A similar close-up depiction resembling the boat in front can be also seen in a work by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Fuji from Ushibori in Hitachi Province from the series “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” (ca.1833-34). Hokusai was Hiroshige’s predecessor in creating landscape prints, and Hiroshige often drew inspiration from his compositions. ("The Tôkaidô Road: Connecting Japan" exhibition Nov/26/2009-Jan/24/2010)

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