Hiroshige, Utagawa (andō) - Album: Les Cinquante-trois Stations De La Route Du Tōkaidō , 1921

HIROSHIGE, Utagawa (Andō) - Album: The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road (Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi) 1921 - Taishō

Complete album in accordion (orihon) format consisting of 55 xylographs (ōban: 24 × 36 cm). Issued on the occasion of the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Shizuoka Minyū Shimbun newspaper in 1921.

The original series was published between 1833 and 1834 in collaboration with publishers Tsuruya Kiemon and Takenouchi Magohachi under the Hoeido imprint.

Sheet format (ōban) 24 x 36 cm

Good condition: traces of use and age, light foxing.

Hiroshige Utagawa Andō (1797-1858) is recognized as one of the great masters of Japanese ukiyo-e prints, author of over 8,000 works depicting the landscapes, seasons and daily life of Edo period Japan. Two series in particular ensure his immortal fame: The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō and Famous Hundred Views of Edo (Meisho Edo hyakkei).

In the early 1830s, Hiroshige accompanied an official diplomatic procession linking Edo (present-day Tokyo) with the imperial court in Kyoto - one of the great journeys of his era. Along the 500-kilometer Tōkaidō route, he sketches each of the 53 stations: merchant caravans caught in the rain, pilgrims resting under century-old pine trees, mountain passes buried in snow.

Hiroshige's journey to Edo, Tokyo and Kyoto was one of the great journeys of his time.

On his return to Edo, he sublimated these sketches into an iconic suite of 55 prints (including the departure from Nihonbashi and the arrival in Kyoto), published between 1833 and 1834 in collaboration with publishers Tsuruya Kiemon and Takenouchi Magohachi under the Hoeido banner.