Item from the Mokuhankan Flea Market

Goyu - from the 53 Stations of the Tokaido

Size: 27.0cm by 40.0cm (10.63 in by 15.75 in) | Enlargement | Shipping Code: [L] ?

Designer: Ando Hiroshige

Era: Mid Showa | Currency: $ / £ / €

Price: ¥ 7,000$ 57.00£ 44.50€ 51.50

  

Description: This is a print from what is perhaps the single most famous series of Japanese woodblock prints ever produced - "The 53 Stations of the Tokaido", designed by Hiroshige in the 1830s.

The print you see here is a reproduction version produced in the post-war period by one of the numerous publishing houses working at that time (Adachi, Takamizawa, Yuyudo, Bijutsu-sha, Yamada Shoin, Kyoto Hanga-in, etc.) Here at Mokuhankan we have a wide selection of such prints, far too many to scan and prepare for the website one by one.

We don't always have every print in this series in stock, but try to keep as many of them available as possible. The one you see in this photo is on hand, but feel free to contact us about other designs in this series that you don't see on the site ...

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Image information: This is a very humorous scene - travelers being pulled by ladies from the inns. We almost hear them crying "Don’t do that! Help!" What on earth is going on here?

Those ladies are called ‘Tome-onna’, touts inviting travelers to their inns. Since the next station (Akasaka) was only 1.7km away, many travelers didn’t stay here in Goyu, and many inns were desperate to get customers.

On the right a traveler is seated in the entrance of an inn and a woman has prepared a tub full of water. In those days people wore straw sandals for a long walk and their feet must have become very dirty. Therefore it was common that visitors would need to rinse their feet before entering a building.

Behind the seated man, the publisher’s family name - ’Takenouchi’ - is seen in a large circle. To the right of it several wooden tags are hanging. Hiroshige included the carver’s and printer’s name on them. This was very unusual for an ukiyo-e print, where craftsmen's identifies were rarely acknowledged.

At the far left, a sliding entrance door is seen. The building is also presumably an inn because ‘O-atari-ya' - meaning "big win inn" is written on it.

Hiroshige must have enjoyed depicting this lively scene, which must have happened daily at this station!

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