Akasaka

Data

Akasaka
Print   (Part of the set: The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō)

Hiroshige
Takamizawa


2019
00015-037
https://mokuhankan.com/collection/index.php?id_for_display=00015-037

Print is Public Domain; Photography is:   Creative Commons License

Description

For this station, Hiroshige depicted the common daily life inside an inn.

A fat and tall sotetsu (cycad) is placed in the center of the image with a Toro (stone lantern) behind it. This tree had been introduced to Japan several hundred years before this era. Because this tree’s shape was quite different from Japanese indigenous trees, it became popular as an exotic object.

On the far left, a man appears to have returned from the hot bath, with a tenugui (Japanese towel) over his shoulder. In front of him the sliding door is open, and we can see a man relaxing on the tatami mats and smoking with a Japanese pipe. A maid is bringing two dinner trays, and a blind masseur (anma) is beside her. In another room over on the right, two 'Meshimori Onna' (entertainers) are applying makeup.

This image conveys the lively atmosphere of an inn very well.

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