Umesawa, 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
One of several recorded impressions of the Umesawa design from Kyosai's Tōkaidō meisho fūkei series, this woodblock print depicts a famous coastal waypoint on the Edo-to-Kyoto highway. The series subtitle Gyōretsu Tōkaidō underscores its preoccupation with the formal processions — samurai retinues, palanquins, pike-bearers — that defined Tōkaidō imagery for Edo-period audiences. By the time Kyosai produced this series, the sankin-kōtai system had been abolished under the Meiji government, lending the subject a retrospective, documentary character. Umesawa's flat coastal terrain would have allowed a broad compositional register with sea and sky dominating the upper portion of the oban sheet, bokashi gradations conveying atmospheric recession, and the procession unfolding in a frieze-like band across the lower plane. Color variants across impressions in this series point to multiple print runs with differing block usage.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Umesawa, 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 — Umesawa, 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.
Umesawa, 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.