Okabe
- Date:
- c. 1936
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; mitsugiriban
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
Description
Okabe was one of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido highway, a small post town in Shizuoka Prefecture where travelers rested between Fuji and the coast. This circa 1936 mitsugiriban (small format) print renders the town or its immediate surroundings with the intimate scale appropriate to both the format and the subject — a minor stopping point rather than a major destination, interesting precisely because of its ordinariness. Shotei's Tokaido scenes documented the living highway culture that had persisted largely unchanged for three centuries.
More Prints by Takahashi Shotei
More Landscapes Prints
Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Autumn Maple Leaves at Takao, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei)
Woodblock print
The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
Tea Kettle, section of a sheet from the series "Mirror of Stone Rubbings of Views of the Provinces" (Kohon meihitsu ishizuri kagami)
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Okabe was created by Takahashi Shotei (高橋松亭) in c. 1936.
Okabe was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (c. 1936).
Okabe depicts landscapes, travel scenes, and village scenes.