Travel Scenes Prints (502)
Travel scenes document journeys along Japan's historic roads, sea routes, and pilgrimage paths, forming one of the woodblock print tradition's most commercially successful and artistically significant genres. The meisho-e (famous places) format, which presented sequential views of notable sites along a route, generated some of ukiyo-e's greatest masterworks and established templates that artists followed for generations. Hiroshige's "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido" (1833-34), depicting the post stations along the great road connecting Edo and Kyoto, became the bestselling print series of the Edo period and defined the travel-scene genre. Its success spawned dozens of road series by Hiroshige himself and his contemporaries, documenting the Kisokaido, Nikko road, and other major routes. These prints served dual purposes — as art objects and as practical references for travelers, capturing the character of inns, teahouses, and scenic viewpoints along each route. The travel-scene tradition continued into the modern era as artists documented Japan's expanding railway network and new tourist destinations. Shin-hanga publishers like Watanabe Shozaburo commissioned series of famous views specifically targeting the tourist market, both domestic and international, creating prints that continue to define visual expectations of Japan's most celebrated landscapes.
Artists Known for Travel Scenes
Nissaka
Woodblock print
No Series Arima Hotspring
Woodblock print
Emperor Meiji Leaving for Northern Japan
Woodblock print
Shimoda, numbered
Woodblock print
Yatozaka in Yokohama
Woodblock print
Lord Yoshiie near the barrier of Nakoso no seki
Woodblock print
Soshu (Suzhou)
Woodblock print
Print 1
Woodblock print
Nan hei, Peking
Woodblock print
Dai Nippon Meisho kan
1878
Woodblock print
Railway Line at Takanawa (Takanawa tetsudō no zu)
Tenth month of 1871
Right sheet from a woodblock print (nishiki-e) triptych; ink and color on paper
Morning Mist in Taj Mahal, No. 5 (Taji Maharu no asagiri, dai go)
Taji Maharu no asagiri, dai go
1932
Color woodblock print; double oban
Arashiyama, Kyoto
Woodblock print
Famous places in Tokyo, Takanawa: Picture of . Complete picture of a steam locomotive and railroad
1871, 9th lunar month
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Kyoto Shijo
Woodblock print
Drawing of a Traveling Couple
Woodblock print
Palanquin
Woodblock print
Longing for Home (Bokyo)
1959
Color woodblock print; edition 3/50
Place Van Eyck
1919
Sunflowers and Skyscrapers (Flowers and New York)
1960
Woodblock print
India (B)
Woodblock print
Island Palaces in Udaipur
1932
Woodblock print
Nostalgia, Boston
1956
Color woodblock print; edition 7/75
Parting
Shōwa period, dated 1956
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper with signature reading "U. AZECHI"
Tahiti (B)
1966
Color woodblock print; edition 10/50
Diamond Head, Honolulu
1964
Woodblock print
Roofs of Florence
1959
Woodblock print
Indian (C)
Woodblock print
Honolulu
1955
Woodblock print
Oku no hosomichi Unganji, Kurohane
1965
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Resting, Paris, Shôwa period, dated 1960
Woodblock print
Unknown- hiking
Woodblock print
Bookstore, Seine, Paris, Shôwa period, dated 1960
Woodblock print
Oku no hosomichi Junenji, Sukagawa
1965
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Toriemoto, Kyoto
1971
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Venice
Woodblock print
Sugawara Michizane Expelled
Feburary 1884
Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Okuno Hosomichi Matsushima Sendai
Woodblock print
Parting, Shôwa period, dated 1956
Woodblock print
Departure of a Family
Woodblock print
El Capitan
1925
Woodblock print
Nikko
1966
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
TotalCount
1926
Woodblock print
Untitled (hiyoshi-mamoru)
Woodblock print
Resting (Mexico)
Woodblock print
Totem Poles
Woodblock print
Untitled (hiyoshi-mamoru)
Woodblock print
On the Way to Kumano
2015
Mokuhanga
Road
Color lithograph
Untitled (hiyoshi-mamoru)
Woodblock print
Untitled (hiyoshi-mamoru)
Woodblock print
Mexico
Not set
Woodblock print
Montmartre
1974
Woodblock print
Rome
Not set
Woodblock print
Stone Observatory in Kiyonju
Woodblock print
utagawa-hiroshige
Woodblock print
Koraku-en / Koraku-en Park / Tokyo meisho zue / Famous Places in Tokyo
1893 (1 September;printing; 5 September;published)
Woodblock print
Numazu: Latticework Tile Wall
Woodblock print
Arab in Bagdad
Woodblock print
Ranjima (Dutch Island)
Woodblock print
Related Subjects
Frequently Asked Questions
Travel scenes document journeys along Japan's historic roads, sea routes, and pilgrimage paths, forming one of the woodblock print tradition's most commercially successful and artistically significant genres. The meisho-e (famous places) format, which presented sequential views of notable sites along a route, generated some of ukiyo-e's greatest masterworks and established templates that artists followed for generations.
Kawase Hasui, Jun'ichiro Sekino, and Utagawa Hiroshige are among the artists most associated with travel scenes in our collection. Browse the full list of artists who explored this subject above.
Hanga currently catalogues 502 prints tagged with travel scenes, spanning ukiyo-e, shin-hanga, and sōsaku-hanga traditions where applicable.