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Exhibitions
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ANDO HIROSHIGE
Tokaido - Hoeido edition 36-40
36 Goyu
Main street of the village at nightfall and female touts dragging travellers into the teahouse on the right, where one is already resting. The large circle on the wall bears the sign of the publisher of the series, Take-no-Uchi. On the signboard inside are given the names of the engraver, Jirobei; the printer, Heibei; and the artist, Ichiryusai.
This station was lined with many inns and restaurants. The waitresses were renowned for their persistence in trying to entice customers into their shops.
37 Akasaka
The courtyard of a resthouse, in the centre of which a sago-palm is growing; on the left, guests being served with refreshments, and on the right, geisha dressing up for their performance.
Most male travellers enjoyed staying at this station for here in the entertainment quarters they could find the friendliest hostesses of the entire trip. Dinners are being served by a waitress and geisha girls are doing their faces for the evening.
38 Fujikawa
The head of a daimyo`s procession at the entrance to a village, and three peasants making obeisance as it passes.
The most frequent user of the highway was the feudal lord with his retinue. Commoners who came across the procession had to kneel down on the ground to pay their respects and stay there until the procession had passed.
39 Okazaki
A daimyo`s cortège crossing the bridge over the Yahagi River towards the village and castle on the further bank; in the background a blue hill, printed from colour blocks only.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, was born in the castle shown in the prints. The bridge over the Yahagi River, flowing west of the castle, was the largest on the entire highway.
40 Chiryu
A number of horses tethered near a tree in the fields, where a fair is held in the summer.
This area was noted for Japanese iris(kakitsubata). A famouse poet who once passed by this vicinity adorned with irises composed a poem expressing the loneliness of his long journey from Kyoto where his wife remained.
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