Gontazaka, from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
- Image courtesy of
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Description
This sheet from Kawanabe Kyosai's Tôkaidô meisho series—also circulated under the title Gyôretsu Tôkaidô—depicts the Gontazaka slope, one of the distinctive topographic features travelers on the Edo-Kyoto highway would have encountered. The Processional Tôkaidô designation signals that daimyo retinues served as an organizing visual subject, foregrounding the human spectacle of domain travel against recognizable landscape settings. Multiple impressions of the Gontazaka design exist, indicating sustained demand for the series among print collectors. Subtle variation in pigment saturation, bokashi intensity, and keyblock ink density across impressions allows specialists to distinguish earlier from later print runs. Kyosai's characteristic figural precision animates what might otherwise be routine topographic illustration, embedding the procession within a landscape that balances geographic specificity with the compositional clarity demanded by the woodblock format. The series represents an underexplored aspect of Kyosai's print output, distinct from his better-known supernatural and satirical work.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Gontazaka, from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).
Yes — Gontazaka, from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi is part of the Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road series by Kawanabe Kyosai.
Gontazaka, from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi depicts transportation, tōkaidō, and travel scenes.