Totsuka—No. 6, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Reisho Tokaido

Totsuka was the fifth post station on the Tokaido (numbered the sixth sheet when counted from Nihonbashi) and one of the first major stops out of Edo, set in the rolling country south of the city. In this 1842 landscape print from Utagawa Hiroshige's Reisho Tokaido, the artist depicts Totsuka with the steady, low-keyed approach characteristic of the series: a clear horizon, scattered architecture, and small figures of travelers giving scale to a wide, openly composed view. The set is nicknamed for the clerical-script (reisho) calligraphy in its title cartouches and was published by Maruseiya Jinpachi as one of several Tokaido editions Hiroshige produced over the course of his career, each reworking the same fifty-three station sequence for an Edo public that never tired of the subject. The Art Institute of Chicago's impression preserves the cool palette, careful bokashi gradation, and clean linework that distinguish early issues. As an Edo ukiyo-e landscape print, the sheet shows how Hiroshige used the Reisho series to step back from the more dramatic incident of his Hoeido edition and to emphasize the topographic continuity of the route. Totsuka here is less a stage for narrative than a measured pause in the rhythm of stations, a way of preparing the viewer for the bigger landmarks further west.