Description
On the Tokaido (東海道), the road connecting the city of Edo (江戸) with the imperial capital Kyoto (京都), the Chiryu station (池鯉鮒宿) was noted for its flourishing horse market, held in late April to early May of each year. At the center of the print presented here, in addition to horses, we also see a pine tree: and in fact the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) himself ordered that the post station plant pine trees along through route of the highway before and after the town.
The precious woodblock print, made by Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞), is titled “View of Chiryu” (池鯉鮒ノ図) and is taken from the “Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road” (東海道五十三次之内), an interesting series in which the artist pairs bijin (美人) beauties depicted in the foreground with, in the background, landscapes taken in most cases from the homonymous and famous series by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重).
The work on Japanese washi paper (和紙), printed around 1838 by the publisher Sanoya Kihei (佐野屋喜兵衛), owner of Kikakudo (喜鶴堂), despite the right signs of aging is in overall good condition.
