Hiratsuka

A second Hiratsuka design, reflecting Sekino's habit of issuing variant treatments of the same station across the long production of his Tôkaidô series. Where the first impression may emphasize architecture, an alternate Hiratsuka often shifts the vantage point — perhaps closer to a wall, a sign, or a doorway — so that the viewer encounters the place through fragments rather than panoramas. This fragmentary approach distinguishes Sekino sharply from the meisho-e tradition of Hokusai and Hiroshige, in which the post station functioned as a recognizable view. Technically, the print displays the hallmarks of high-quality mid-twentieth-century mokuhanga: careful kentô registration across many color blocks, controlled bokashi gradations achieved by wiping pigment along the wet block, and the deliberate use of woodgrain as a textural element. The work belongs to the same body of late-career masterworks for which Sekino received international recognition, including holdings in major American museum collections.