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Otsu

ca. 1840
Not on view
The highway called the Tokaido stretched about 290 miles from Nihonbashi in the center of Edo to the Great Sanjo Bridge in Kyoto, a journey of ten days or two weeks. Between Edo and Kyoto, fifty-three stations served the travelers' needs. All along the Tokaido, the grandeur of spectacular landscapes and seascapes was punctuated with a variety of human activities. This print vividly illustrates travelers on a busy street of the Otsu station from a bird's-eye view in an oblique perspective commonly featured in East Asia.
This series of the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, published in 1848–49, is popularly known as the "Reisho Tokaido" from the archaic style of the calligraphy in the cartouche of each print. Another series, published in 1833–34, is more widely known.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 東海道五十三次　大津
  • Title: Otsu
  • Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, Tokyo (Edo) 1797–1858 Tokyo (Edo))
  • Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
  • Date: ca. 1840
  • Culture: Japan
  • Medium: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: Overall: 8 3/4 x 13 3/4in. (22.2 x 34.9cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Francis Lathrop Collection, Purchase, Frederick C. Hewitt Fund, 1911
  • Object Number: JP804
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Small View of Yedo, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Print, Japanese
Small View of Yedo
Utagawa Hiroshige
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Hiratsuka, Nawate Do, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan
Hiratsuka, Nawate Do
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ca. 1834
Yokkaichi, Sanchokawa, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan
Yokkaichi, Sanchokawa
Utagawa Hiroshige
ca. 1834
Snow on the Sumida River, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan
Snow on the Sumida River
Utagawa Hiroshige
ca. 1835
Reflections of the Moon in the Rice Fields of Sarashina in Shinshu, Utagawa Hiroshige Japanese, Woodblock print; ink and color on paper, Japan
Reflections of the Moon in the Rice Fields of Sarashina in Shinshu
Utagawa Hiroshige
ca. 1832

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