Okabe
1855
Imagine hiking up the notoriously steep Utsu Pass in 19th-century Japan—that's the vibe Hiroshige gives us here at the Okabe station. A traveler takes a well-deserved break at a tea house to eat dango (sweet dumplings), advertised on the tall banner, while a porter trudges past with a heavy load swinging from his shoulder pole. The massive, jagged mountains looming in the back make the humans look tiny, reminding us that nature was the real boss of the Tōkaidō road. This scene comes from Hiroshige's super famous Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō series, essentially the Edo-period equivalent of a Lonely Planet guidebook.
- Technique
- Woodblock print
- Material
- Paper and ink
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