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
A variant impression from the Tôkaidô meisho fûkei series, this sheet depicts Gontazaka—a well-known rise along the old highway between Edo and Kyoto—as part of the Gyôretsu Tôkaidô (Processional Tôkaidô), which foregrounded daimyo processions against recognizable topographic settings. Gontazaka's gradient offered Kyosai compositional latitude to arrange procession figures in recession, their scale diminishing as they ascend the slope—a device drawing on both Western perspective conventions, which Kyosai encountered through Yokohama-e and foreign contacts, and the recessional landscape conventions of the Utagawa lineage. Multiple impressions of individual designs within this series exist, suggesting the compositions achieved sustained commercial demand. Variation between impressions may appear in the precise pigments used for costume colors, the intensity of bokashi gradation in sky passages, and the density of keyblock ink, reflecting different print runs or publisher states. Kyosai's characteristic figural precision animates what might otherwise be routine topographic illustration.
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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.