Seki, from the series The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō
Utagawa Hiroshige (Japanese, 1797–1858)
c. 1848–49
Medium
Color woodblock print
Dimensions
24.8 × 37.5 cm
Classification
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Edward L. Whittemore
Accession Number
1930.186
Tags
male
About this artwork
This print from one of Hiroshige’s later Tōkaidō series completely reconceives the scene at Seki. An earlier series showed an entourage of a daimyō, preparing to leave an inn, but this view plunges the station into the depths of a dark winter. Daimyō were regional military rulers during Japan’s Edo period. As the central government required them to live in the capital, Edo, in alternating years, daimyō processions along the Tōkaidō thoroughfare were a frequent sight. This print, however, emphasi...