The or ''Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Road'', is a series of ''

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk ta ...

'' works created by

Utagawa Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

and Keisai Eisen. There are 71 total prints in the series (one for each of the 69 post stations and

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The curre ...

; Nakatsugawa-juku has two prints). The common name for the Kiso Kaidō is " Nakasendō" so the series is sometimes referred to as the ''Sixty-nine Stations of the Nakasendō''. It is a follow up to Hiroshige's '' The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō'' and he produced 47 of the prints, with Eisen being responsible for the rest.Hiroshige - Kisokaido
www.hiroshige.org.uk. Accessed November 1, 2017. The series was published by Iseya Rihei (Kinjudō) from .Forrer

The Nakasendō

The Nakasendō was one of the Five Routes constructed under

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fello ...

, a series of roads linking the historical capital of

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

with the rest of Japan. The Nakasendō connected Edo with the then-capital of

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the c ...

. It was an alternate route to the Tōkaidō and travelled through the central part of

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island sepa ...

, thus giving rise to its name, which means "Central Mountain Road". Along this road, there were sixty-nine different post stations, which provided stables, food, and lodging for travelers.

Prints by Eisen

Eisen produced the first 11 prints of the series, from

to Honjō-shuku, stretching from Tokyo to

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

. His prints from

Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuku ...

include Kuragano-shuku,

Itahana-shuku was the fourteenth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day city of Annaka, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Ruins of its '' honjin'' can be found at the Princess Kazunomiya Inn (皇女和宮宿泊 ''Ōjo Kazunomiy ...

and Sakamoto-shuku. Representing

Nagano Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,052,493 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture to the north, Gunma Prefecture to the ...

, he made prints of

Kutsukake-shuku was the nineteenth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day town of Karuizawa, in the Kitasaku District of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History This post town's name, which roughly translates to "stuck shoes," ...

Oiwake-shuku was the twentieth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day town of Karuizawa, in the Kitasaku District of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History This post town was named ''Oiwake'', which means "where two ro ...

, Iwamurada-shuku, Shiojiri-shuku, Narai-juku, Yabuhara-juku, Nojiri-juku and Magome-juku. His last two prints, Unuma-juku and Gōdo-juku represent

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, ...

. After that, Hiroshige took over production of the series.

Prints by Hiroshige

Hiroshige's prints start in Gunma Prefecture and include Shinmachi-shuku, Takasaki-shuku,

Annaka-shuku was the fifteenth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day city of Annaka, Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,6 ...

and Matsuida-shuku. His prints that reflect Nagano Prefecture] are

Karuisawa-shuku was the eighteenth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the northern portion of the present-day town of Karuizawa, in the Kitasaku District of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Karuisawa-shuku is from the preceding post statio ...

, Otai-shuku, from Shionada-juku to Shimosuwa-shuku, from Seba-juku to Niekawa-juku, from Miyanokoshi-juku to Suhara-juku, Midono-juku and Tsumago-juku. His prints from Gifu Prefecture include Ochiai-juku to Ōta-juku, Kanō-juku, and from Mieji-juku to Imasu-juku. His last ten prints, from Kashiwabara-juku to Ōtsu-juku are all in

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the north ...

Tabulation of series

The series consists of the sixty-nine stations of the Kiso Kaidō, plus a board for the starting point, the Nihonbashi bridge ("bridge of Japan") in Edo, and an additional print for the Nakatsugawa-juku station; a total of 71 prints, to which must be added the title page. The series was published by publisher Takenouchi-Hōeidō, for the first part, and by publisher Kinjūdō for the second. Subsequent reissues were made by Kinjūdō.

References

;Notes * Matthi Forrer, ''Hiroshige''. Prestel. 2011 (trans. Peter Mason) * Basil Stewart, ''A Guide to Japanese Prints and Their Subject Matter''. Dover Books on Oriental Art, 1979 (1st ed. 1922), pp. 98–107. * Gordon Friese, ''Keisai Eisen - Utagawa Hiroshige. Die 69 Stationen des Kisokaido: Eine vollständige Serie japanischer Farbholzschnitte und ihre Druckvarianten''. Unna, 2008, * Sebastian Izzard, ''Hiroshige: Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido''.George Braziller, 2009.

External links