Description
Goyu station (御油宿), in today’s Aichi Prefecture (愛知県), was the thirty-fifth of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido and was infamous for the many aggressive female touts who crowded the main street attempting to drag travellers into teahouses and inns for the night.
Here we see it depicted in a precious original woodblock print made by the famous artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) in a period between 1850 and 1851. The work, produced by the publisher Tsutaya Kichizo (蔦屋吉蔵), owner of Koeido (紅英堂), is taken from the series “Tokaido Road: The Fifty-three Stations” (東海道 五十三次之内).
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging, a tiny hole in the lower left and a partial trimming of the margins, is in good general condition.
