'Kanbara' by Utagawa Hiroshige, ca. 1832. From the series 'The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido'. This image is also available on:
The Tokaido Road was the most important route in Edo Period Japan, running from the political capital at Edo (modern Tokyo) to the old imperial capital at Kyoto, which remained the seat of the Emperor throughout the Shogunate and a site of deep religious and cultural significance. Along the way there were fifty-three shukuba, or post stations; in many pre-modern societies it was common to find regularly spaced towns along major highways where inns and lodging houses were set up to accommodate couriers and government officials, as well as ordinary travellers. They were a frequent subject for 19th century ukiyo-e artists like Hiroshige, who often travelled the country looking for inspiration. In Hiroshige's case, he was invited to accompany an official Shogunal procession from Edo to Kyoto in 1832.
This particular print shows three night-time travellers struggling through deep winter snows, which has always been something of a mystery to art historians as Kanbara is in a fairly temperate region and rarely sees even light snows. Kanbara is also located on the coast, with hills behind it, rather than high up in the mountains as this village appears to be. Hiroshige supplemented the initial sketches from his travels with ideas from guidebooks and other prints, and it's suspected that he accidentally used a picture of a different Kanbara for inspiration, possibly the one in Gunma prefecture.
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