Fujida - Tokaido

Fujida, Tokaido, more commonly transliterated Fujieda, is a station on the Tokaido highway between Okabe and Shimada in the foothills of Suruga Province. In Utagawa Hiroshige's various Tokaido sets, Fujieda is typically depicted as a small relay station where porters and horses are exchanged, and this Edo ukiyo-e landscape print belongs to that tradition. Hiroshige fills the foreground with the bustle of the exchange: porters strip off their loads, fresh porters take them up, and travelers wait at the side of the road. Behind them, low rooflines and a screen of trees define the station, with hills closing the view to the rear. The composition makes a feature of the small social rituals of the Tokaido, the negotiation of loads, the moment of pause, the gossip exchanged between hired men, which gave Hiroshige's road series so much of their lasting appeal. The impression survives in the Vancouver Art Gallery's collection database accessed via ukiyo-e.org, where the print's strong outline block and characteristic late-Hiroshige palette are clearly legible.