Keisai Eisen A Tokaido Board Game of Courtesans Fifty-three Pairings in the Yoshiwara E-Book

Cristina Berna

• Herausgeber: BoD - Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 238

Beschreibung

Keisai Eisen (1790 -1848) is especially known for his bijin-ga, pretty women, and landscapes. He is well known for his participation in the series 69 stations of the Nakasendo together with Hiroshige. The series A Tokaido Board Game of Courtesans, Fifty-three Pairings in the Yoshiwara use the Tokaido with landscape inserts as an excuse for showing courtesans and geisha, bijin-ga, to skirt the censorship. It was published 1821-1823. His bijin-ga are considered to be masterpieces of the "decadent" Bunsei Era (1818-1830). Most of them have impressive hairdo with many ornamental hairpins and combs. Their dress is extravagant with beautiful patterns and sublime embroideries. Their faces are elongated squares with long noses and small pouted painted mouths. Courtesans were desirable for their rich and splendid attire, not so much for their beauty and their names were actually like trademarks for a series of girls performing the same name role with the brothel in question.

Leseprobe

About the authors

Cristina Berna loves photographing and writing. She also creates designs and advice on fashion and styling.

Eric Thomsen has published in science, economics and law, created exhibitions and arranged concerts.

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[email protected] Published by www.missysclan.net

Cover picture, front: Print no 55, terminus: Kyoto, from the A Tōkaidō Board Game of Courtesans: Fifty-three Pairings in the Yoshiwara

Rear: Print no 36, 35th station Goyu, from the A Tōkaidō Board Game of Courtesans: Fifty-three Pairings in the Yoshiwara

Inside: Print no 20, 19th station Fuchu from the A Tōkaidō Board Game of Courtesans: Fifty-three Pairings in the Yoshiwara (detail)

Contents

Introduction

Keisai Eisen

The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō: Board Game

No 1: Start: Nihonbashi

No 2: 1

st

station: Shinagawa-juku

No 3: 2

nd

station: Kawasaki-juku

No 4: 3

rd

station: Kanagawa-juku

No 5: 4

th

station: Hodogaya-juku

No 6: 5

th

station: Totsuka-juku

No 7: 6

th

station: Fujisawa-shuku

No 8: 7

th

station: Hiratsuka-juku

No 9: 8

th

station: Ōiso-juku

No 10: 9

th

station: Odawara-juku

No 11: 10

th

station: Hakone-juku

No 12: 11

th

station: Mishima-shuku

No 13: 12

th

station: Numazu-juku

No 14: 13

th

station: Hara-juku

No 15: 14

th

station: Yoshiwara-juku

No 16: 15

th

station: Kanbara-juku

No 17: 16

th

station: Yui-shuku

No 18: 17

th

station: Okitsu-juku

No 19: 18

th

station: Ejiri-juku

No 20: 19

th

station: Fuchū-shuku

No 21: 20

th

station: Mariko-juku

No 22: 21

st

station: Okabe-juku

No 23: 22

nd

station: Fujieda-juku

No 24: 23

rd

station: Shimada-juku

No 25: 24

th

station: Kanaya-juku

No 26: 25

th

station: Nissaka-shuku

No 27: 26

th

station: Kakegawa-juku

No 28: 27

th

station: Fukuroi-juku

No 29: 28

th

station: Mitsuke-juku

No 30: 29

th

station: Hamamatsu-juku

No 31: 30

th

station: Maisaka-juku

No 32: 31

st

station: Arai-juku

No 33: 32

nd

station: Shirasuka-juku

No 34: 33

rd

station: Futagawa-juku

No 35: 34

th

station: Yoshida-juku

No 36: 35

th

station: Goyu-shuku

No 37: 36

th

station: Akasaka-juku

No 38: 37

th

station: Fujikawa-shuku

No 39: 38

th

station: Okazaki-shuku

No 40: 39

th

station: Chiryū-juku

No 41: 40

th

station: Narumi-juku

No 42: 41

st

station: Miya-juku

No 43: 42

nd

station: Kuwana-juku

No 44: 43

rd

station: Yokkaichi-juku

No 45: 44

th

station: Ishiyakushi-juku

No 46: 45

th

station: Shōno-juku

No 47: 46

th

station: Kameyama-juku

No 48: 47

th

station: Seki-juku

No 49: 48

th

station: Sakashita-juku

No 50: 49

th

station: Tsuchiyama-juku

No 51: 50

th

station: Minakuchi-juku

No 52: 51

st

station: Ishibe-juku

No 53: 52

nd

station: Kusatsu-juku

No 54: 53

rd

station: Ōtsu-juku

No 55: terminus: Sanjō Ōhashi (Kyoto)

No 56: Kyoto

Notes

References

Introduction

Keisai Eisen (1790 -1848) is especially known for his bijin-ga, pretty women, and landscapes. He is well known for his participation in the series 69 stations of the Nakasendō together with Hiroshige.

The series A Tōkaidō Board Game of Courtesans, Fifty-three Pairings in the Yoshiwara use the Tōkaidō with landscape inserts as an excuse for showing courtesans and geisha, bijin-ga, to skirt the censorship. It was published 1821-1823. His bijin-ga are considered to be masterpieces of the "decadent" Bunsei Era (1818–1830).

Most of them have impressive hairdo with many ornamental hairpins and combs. Their dress is extravagant with beautiful patterns and sublime embroideries. Their faces are elongated squares with long noses and small pouted painted mouths.

Courtesans were desirable for their rich and splendid attire, not so much for their beauty and their names were actually like trademarks for a series of girls performing the same name role with the brothel in question.

Keisai Eisen

Eisen KEISAI (渓斎英泉) (1791 - August 20, 1848) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who did remarkable work in the late Edo period.

He was renowned for voluptuous and lavishly dressed Bijin-ga, ukiyo-e prints portraying beautiful “people”, women, with strong originality and produced many works of Shunga, erotic art and Koshokubon, books on love.

He also established a reputation for his ukiyo-e landscapes, landscape prints and started "The Sixty-nine Stations of Kiso Kaidō", about the Kiso inland road from Edo to Kyoto over the mountains, which was finished by Utagawa Hiroshige, see ISBN ES 978-8-413-730-660.

Keisai Eisen was born to a lower-ranking samurai of the Ikeda family in Hoshigaoka in the city of Edo. His father Ikeda Masahei Shigeharu was a Kanô-school painter and talented calligrapher.

Eisen, whose family and given name was Ikeda Yoshinobu (池田義信) and common name Zenjirô (善次郎), was known by an array of art names:

Keisai (渓齋), Kokushunrô (國春楼); Koizumi (小泉), Ippitsuan Kakô (一筆庵可候), Fusen Ichiin ( 楓川市隠), Mumei'Io (无名翁), Insai Hakusui (淫齋白水), Inransai (淫乱齋). He might also have used the names Hokutei (北亭) and Hokkatei (北花亭). His posthumous name 混聲. Later, he was called Satosuke.

His main name was actually Matsumoto, however, he took the name of Ikeda after his father, after Masabei Shigeharu reverted to his former surname, Ikeda.

Keisai Eisen lost his real mother at the age of six.

Eisen started studying the art of painting under Hakkeisai of the Kano school at the age of 12.

On the occasion of his coming-of-age ceremony at the age of 15, he entered government service in the Edo residence of the successive lords of Hojo Domain, Awa Province (Mizuno Iki no kami Tadateru). However, he seems to have been inadequate for samurai duties. At the age of 17, he had a quarrel with his superior and was forced out of office being slandered.

A dark night with full moon printi of the view sometimes dubbed "Man on Horseback Crossing a Bridge." From the series The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō, this is View 28 and Station 27 at Nagakuboshuku, depicting the Wada Bridge across the Yoda River, ISBN ES 978-8-413-730-660.

Keisai Eisen, now Zenjiro, became a Ronin, masterless samurai and, by the help of his father's connections, ended up studying as an apprentice for Kabuki playwright under kinji Shinoda the First 篠田金治1768 - 7/1819; later name Namiki Gôhei II, 並木五瓶 from 11/1818), who wrote criticism for yakusha hyôbanki (actor critique: 役者評判記) and whose best known contribution was the dance classic Yasuna (保名) premiering in 3/1818. Namiki Gôhei II was a Kabuki, traditional performing art, playwright of the Ichimura-za Theater. Eisen assumed the name of Saiichi (Saiichi with a different Chinese character) Chiyoda (千代田才市); however, nothing of lasting significance seems to have come from his playwriting endeavors.

At the age of 20, Zebjiro (Eisen) ended up starting to rear his three younger sisters after his father and step mother died successively. Probably due also to this, he had to give up the idea of pursuing a career as a Kabuki playwright.

At that time, many relatives who served the Mizuno family offered assistance. Zenjiro was, however, not satisfied with the situation and instead focused on painting in earnest in Fukaya shuku as a disciple of Kikugawa Eizan, an Ukiyoe artist.

It was that time when Zenjiro's talent really expressed itself and he started his career as an Ukiyoe artist, as Keisai Eisen abt 1811.

Keisai Eisen was influenced by and worked with Hiroshige.Oiwake, from The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō, also known as the Nakasendo, 1830s, ISBN ES 978-8-413-730-660.

It was also at that time he started using the artist's appellations 'Kokushunro' and 'Hokutei'.

Eisen studied with a minor painter named Kanô Hakkeisai, from whom he took the name Keisai, and later he had some not entirely confirmed connection with Kikugawa Eizan, either as a pupil or lodger in the Kikugawa household where he is said to have studied painting with Eizan's father, Eiji, and ukiyo-e design with Eizan.

Kikugawa Eizan was like his Anideshi (senior apprentice) only four years older than Keisai Eisen, but a popular Eshi painter for sweet Bijinga ukiyo-e portraying beautiful women.

While Eisen lived in Eizan's house without paying and learned Bijinga as a disciple, he frequently visited the house of Katsushika Hokusai nearby and brought himself under Hokusai's benign influence in painting technique.

Hokusai had done a number of Tōkaidō series from 1801 to 1806, see especially the 1801 square Tōkaidō ISBN ES 978-8-413-730-585 and 1804 Horizontal Tōkaidō ISBN 978-1-956215-26-7 which has elegant portrayals of females.

Another influence was that of Yanagawa Shigenobu I (1787-1832), pupil, son in law and then adopted son of Hokusai. Eisen was also fond of Chinese-style paintings of the Sung and Ming periods and he was devoted to reading.

It is said that it was Eisen who painted Aizuri-e with bero-ai (Berlin blue) for the first time in Japan ahead of Hokusai.

Keisai Eisen: Evening Bell at Mii-dera Temple (Mii no banshô): Nagato of the Owariya, No. 1 from the series Eight Views in the Yoshiwara (Yoshiwara hakkei), MFA

The print depicts the courtesan Nagatô of the Owariya brothel (Owariya uchi Nagatô): 尾張屋内長登), one design from the series Yoshiwara hakkei (Eight views of the Yoshiwara: 吉原八景), inscribed in the black cartouche. This is one of the ever-popular mitate (見立) or analogues of the traditional Eight Views of Lake Biwa in Omi Province, in this case the Mii no banshô ("Evening Bell at Mii [Temple]: 三井の晩鐘), identified at the far left of the large reddish-brown cartouche. See more about Eight Views of Omi in ISBN 978-1-956215-20-5. The publisher's seal of Tsutaya Kichizô appears at the lower right below a kiwame (approved: 極) censor seal and above the artist's signature, Keisei Eisen ga (渓齋英泉画).

The courtesan Nagatô is on public display during a promenade in the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter. It is early spring, as she walks beneath a flowering cherry tree enclosed by a bamboo fence on Yoshiwara's main street, the Naka-no-chô (Middle Street: 仲の町).

Budding cherry trees were planted each year on the 25th day of the second month in preparation for the famous annual cherry blossom festival held during the third month. Many spectators would visit not only to enjoy the blossoming trees, but also to stand in the street or sit in the upper stories of teahouses to view the colorful spectacle of parading courtesans. Nagatô's name is composed of characters that suggest superiority and excellence (naga 長) at a high "ascent" (tô 登) or price. Thus, she is a highranking courtesan. The names of courtesans were actually like trade marks with the young women performing in the role a few years before another would take over. The women starting maybe at 15 rarely lasted beyond 20 years of age. Her robes and accessories are of the most elaborate and expensive type for the period. Six tortoise-shell hairpins jut out on either side of her coiffure, and a large obi (sash: 帯) is tied at the front in the manner of dress for courtesans. Most spectacular, of course, is the pattern of a fierce tiger standing on rocks amidst a waterfall. Such kimono were affordable by only the highest ranking courtesans (the design, fabricating, and acquisition of robes were sometimes subsidized by, or obtained as gifts from, wealthy patrons). Eisen's vision of this Yoshiwara beauty exemplifies the standards of Edo style and fashion during the 1820s-30s when ornate elaboration of deportment and dress was considered the ideal for the most accomplished women of the pleasure quarters. See note.

Utagawa Kunisada may be referred to as an Eshi painter who learned a lot from the style of Eisen.

This was already mentioned by the critics of the time.

Eisen, a writer and Eshi painter, also produced many pornographic Enpon (Koshokubon - books on love) and Shunga (erotic art prints).

At the age of 22 Keisai Eisen published his first Enpon, "Ehon Sanzeso" (Picture book of previous world, this world and next world). He published another Enpon, "Koi-no-Ayatsuri" at the age of 24.

Although under the influence of Eizan at first Keisai Eisen painted his Bijinga (a type of ukiyo-e portraying beautiful women), but then he started making them uniquely voluptuous and splendidly dressed around the time his works became very popular.

Eisen as a Bijinga Eshi painter of voluptuous women gradually developed his technique in that field, with angular almost rectangular faces and unique long straight noses. Their expressions are uniquely captured with subtle details.

In 1816 at the age of 26, he published a Gokan (bound-together volumes of illustrated books), "Hanagumori Haru no Oboroyo" under the appellation of 'Kako' given by Hokusai. He ended up not only painting illustrations but also writing the text.

While he wrote Enpon every year and produced popular books under various secret pen names, he wrote the famous masterpiece, a fine piece of work, "Haru no Usuyuki" in 1822.

It is around this period he produces the series “A Tōkaidō Board Game of Courtesans, 53 Pairings of the Yoshiwara” (Keisei dōchū sugoroku, Mitate Yoshiwara gojūsan tsui), 1821-1823, where the bijin are pawns and prizes in a raffle game.

The representative work in the same year, an Enpon called "Keichu Kibun Makurabunko" was a sexually-oriented medical text which was referred to as an instructing book on the secrets of sex and at the same time is known as a fantastic book among fantastic books, in an encyclopedia at that time.

At the age of around 30, he started painting Sashie (illustrations) for Ninjobon (a romantic genre of fiction) and Yomihon (reader) and took on Sashie for "Nanso Satomi Hakkenden" (the story of eight dog samurai and a princess of Satomi family in Nanso region) by Kyokutei Bakin.

In April 1829 his house burnt down in a spreading wildfire and further he had to pay as a guarantor on a relative's default, but he was a dissolute and unruly man with eccentric behavior, who then got hooked on wine and women. He moved to Hanamachi, a licensed quarter in Nezu calling himself Wakatakeya Satosuke and started running a brothel, which soon burnt down. He also had a business selling face powder.

After the Tenpō Reforms (1841-1843) by which entertainment as a whole was strictly regulated, he stopped his painting activities leaving them to many of his disciples and devoted himself to literary pursuits including Gokan (bound-together volumes of illustrated books) and Kokkeibon (literally "comical book") under the appellation of Ippitsuan Kako.

"Mumeio Zuihitsu" (Mumeio Zuihitu, 1833, under the name of Ikeda Yoshinobu) was written by Eisen in his later years. Commonly called 'Zoku Ujkiyoe Ruiko (the sequel of biographies and background of Ukiyoe artists) and is maintained today as a precious material on Ukiyo-e also for the study of historical artifacts and documents.

Keisei Eisen: Butterfly and Chrysanthemums by Keisai Eisen, 1830s, woodblock print, James Michener collection, Honolulu Museum of Arthttps://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Butterfly_and_Chrysanthemums_by_Keisai_Eisen,_Honolulu_Museum_of_Art.JPG

He was on friendly terms with Tamenaga Shunsui, a writer of light literature who was good at Ninjobon (a romantic genre of fiction) and, some say, one of the amanuenses of Eisen.

Keisai Eisen died at the age of 58 on August 20, 1848.

His main disciples included Eishun, Shunsai Eisho, Bekasai Eishi, Eisai Senju, Teisai Sencho, Shihansai Senkitsu and Reisai Senri.

Eisen as an Ukiyo-e artist at first painted Bijinga of frail women as his teacher, Eizan, did but later ended up becoming popular by his unique voluptuous painting style.

One of the characteristics of his style was an image of not so well-proportioned, long-torsoed and a little stooped women filled with distorted emotions. A face with thick lower lip and protruding lower jaw can be regarded as characteristic.

He painted women in Okabasho (whorehouse) like Fukagawa and licensed quarter Yoshiwara as women who had voluptuous beauty and look displaying strong will. The beauty is not the woman herself, her face, her body or her soul, but her rich attire, her rich dress and ornaments. These named courtesans were not even the real young women.

The names were like trademarks with the girls holding the title a few years before they were retired. Many died abt 20 from disease.

Bijinga painted by Eisen is considered to have symbolically shown a decadent sense of beauty in the Bunka-Bunsei eras in the late Edo period.

Eisen's Bijinga fitted in with the sense of the times in that they reversed the existing sense of beauty and found the beauty in it, which was called 'Egumi' (bitter and astringent tastes). Eisen's talent was that he described such bitter feminine beauty in a voluptuous way.

While Eisen dominated the minds of the people with his Bijinga and was well-known for his Shunga, he also established a reputation for his Ukiyo-e landscapes (landscape painting).

The Sixty-nine Stations of Kiso Road completed around 1835 by Eisen and Utagawa Hiroshige in the form of a joint work consisted of 72 pictures of which 24 were painted by Eisen.

It was planned by the Hanmoto (publisher), Takenouchi Magohachi following the success of the series of "Tokaido Gojusan-tsugi" (the 53 stages on the Tokaido) by Hiroshige. There were circumstances where at first Eisen played a part of Eshi painter but backed out and Hiroshige took over the part

During Keisai Eisen and Hiroshige’s time, the print industry was booming, and the consumer audience for prints was growing rapidly. Prior to this time, most print series had been issued in small sets, such as ten or twelve designs per series.

Increasingly large series were produced to meet demand, and this trend can be seen in Keisai Eisen’s work, such as A Tōkaidō Board Game of Courtesans (1821-1823) and the later The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō (1834 – 1842). Keisai Eisen never travelled the Kisokaidō but travel guides abounded, from where he could draw inspiration.

Eisen’s rather harsh style of bijin appear to fall behind in the competition with Kunisada’s much sweeter characters, see Kunisada 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō (1838) ISBN 978-1-956215-17-5, Hiroshige and Kunisada’s joint production “Two Brushes Tōkaidō” ISBN 978-1-956215-13-7 and Hiroshige’s Fujikei Tōkaidō ISBN 978-1-956215-74-8. Kunisada and Hiroshige do not show the frustrated emotions of the courtesans and their strong focus on the business, and in this respect Keisai Eisen is much more realistic.

Keisai Eisen: 15 Itahana of the Kisokaidō, Kisokaidô rokûjûkyû tsugi (木曾街道六拾九次之内). Publisher: Iseya Rihei (Kinjudô) and Enomotoya Kichibei (Hôeidô), ôban, c. 1835-38. Itahana (板鼻) is one of the last two station views he completed and is always found unsigned. The inscription at the top appears to be in Hiroshige's hand, suggesting that the design was left unfinished when Eisen ended his participation. It also offers a hint about why it is unsigned — the publisher Kinjudô might have wanted to emphasize Hiroshige's role in the series without abandoning Eisen's composition. Travellers are depicted approaching Itahana just after a heavy snowfall. There is a boldness and weight to the forms that scholars do not commonly associate with Hiroshige's generally more lyrical manner. ISBN ES 978-8-413-730-660.

The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō: Board Game

This series is called A Tōkaidō Board Game of Courtesans Fifty-three Pairings in the Yoshiwara契情道中双六 見立よしハら五十三つゐ 三嶋 扇屋内 司

(Keisei dōchū sugoroku, Mitate Yoshiwara gojūsan tsui) and was published from 1821 - 1823 by Tsutaya Kichizô (Kôeidô).

The Board Game series is complete. It consists of 55 prints, one for start: Nihonbashi, a print for each of the 53 stations and one for terminus:

Kyoto. The complete series of 55 prints bound as an album can be viewed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art website as b/w.

Most images are published in colour by Museum of Fine Arts Boston (MFA) to ukiyo-e.org.

Dimensions: 27.9 × 37.5 cm (11 in. × 14 3/4 in.)

Image (each): 23.8 × 33.7 cm ( 9 3/8 × 13 1/4 in.)

The Board Game series is 10 years before Hiroshige’s The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (東海道五十三次 Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi), his first and called the Hōeidō series (1833–1834), which is probably the best known Tōkaidō series of ukiyo-e woodcut prints created by Hiroshige after his first travel along the Tōkaidō in 1832.

It is however some 14 years after Hokusai’s Tōkaidō series, the best known of which were issued from 1801 to 1806.

It is also 9 years after Hizakurige, the famous tales written by Jippensha Ikku (十返舎一九, 1765– 1831) and published between 1802 and 1822. For a short version with illustrations by Fujikawa Tamenobu from 1890, see ISBN ES 978-8-413-731-513. Jippensha Ikku describes a visit to a brothel by his two scoundrels, Yaji and Kita. Keisai Eisen´s Board Game thus falls well inside the Tōkaidō lore and reality of the period.

The women here are services for consumption by male visitors to brothels. They delivered a service, sexual pleasure enlarged with cultural services, music, poetry and intelligent conversation. Eisen focus on courtesans from Edo brothels but all along the Tōkaidō were some licensed pleasure quarters and many inns with serving maids cum prostitutes as well independent prostitutes.

The Tōkaidō road, linking the shōgun's capital, Edo, to the imperial one, Kyōto, was the main travel and transport artery of old Japan. It is also the most important of the "Five Roads" (Gokaidō)—the five major roads of Japan created or developed during the Edo period to further strengthen the control of the central shogunate administration over the whole country.

The pretty ladies here are integral to the Tōkaidō although they are drawn from famous Edo brothels. They are performing functions that are the Tōkaidō. They are part of a dream, a state of fluid other-world, where the dream is real and the real world is a dream, but at a price, of course.

In Tokugawa Japan, sexuality was widely recognized as an important realm of life, both for individual people and society as a whole. There were various theories about connections between sexual activities and physical or mental health, and literate Japanese could read about such matters in published books. There were no special qualifications that authorized someone to write about this topic, though physicians and Confucian scholars (and many Confucian scholars were also physicians) were perhaps the most likely groups. There was an even larger literature about how to have fun via sexual activities, which ranged from relatively restrained advice to what would strike many modern readers as pornography. As an example of the more restrained variety of academic writing about sex in Tokugawa times, take the example of Kaibara Ekken, a Confucian scholar whose interests ranged widely but tended to center on what today we would call the natural sciences. In some of these writings, this interest in natural sciences took the form of advice for healthy living. In typical Confucian fashion, Kaibara tended to emphasize restraint and discipline.

Kaibara's disciplined approach to life always had its adherents in Tokugawa times, but it tended to sound stuffy and old-fashioned to those with the means to indulge in the pleasures afforded by the large urban centers. Many historians of Tokugawa Japan have pointed out that urban popular values tended to emphasize conspicuous consumption and a life of sensual pleasure. The basic thinking went: you can't take your money with you when you go, so live it up while you still can. In the context of such values, publishers frequently put out guides to the various brothel districts and writers like (most famously) Ihara Saikaku celebrated a life of lust in his widely popular novels and short stories (e.g. “Life of an Amorous Man”, “Life of an Amorous Woman”, and many others).

The Tōkaidō was one of the Five Routes constructed under Tokugawa Ieyasu, a series of roads linking the historical capital of Edo with the rest of Japan. The Tōkaidō connected Edo with the then-capital of Kyoto. The most important and well-traveled of these, the Tōkaidō ran along the Eastern coast of Honshū, thus giving rise to the name Tōkaidō ("Eastern Sea Road"). Along this road, there were 53 different post stations, which provided stables, food, and lodging for travellers.

Woodcuts of this style commonly sold as new for between 12 and 16 copper coins apiece, approximately the same price as a pair of straw sandals or a bowl of soup.

There were originally 53 government post stations along the Tōkaidō, where travellers had to present travelling permits at each station if wanting to continue to the next stage.

Photo of the Tōkaidō road (東海道, Eastern sea route) by Felice Beato in 1865. Image: Artanisen Felice Beato (1832 – 29 January 1909), also known as Felix Beato, was an Italian–British photographer. He was one of the first people to take photographs in East Asia. He is noted for his genre works, portraits and panoramas of Asia and the Mediterranean. Beato created images of countries, people, and events that were unfamiliar and remote. By 1863 Beato had moved to Yokohama, Japan, joining Charles Wirgman, with whom he had travelled from Bombay to Hong Kong. The two formed a partnership called "Beato & Wirgman, Artists and Photographers" during the years 1864–1867, one of the earliest and most important commercial studios in Japan

The post stations, shukuba (宿場) in the Edo period, were generally located on one of the Edo Five Routes or one of its sub-routes. They were also called shuku-eki (宿駅). In the map below you see clearly it is a costal route and you have Mt Fuji referenced in the map.

These post stations or "post towns" were places where travellers could rest on their journey around the nation. They were created based on policies for the transportation of goods by horseback that were developed already during the Nara (AD 710 to 794) and Heian (AD 794 to 1185) periods.

All of the stations, in addition to the starting and ending locations (which are shared with the Nakasendō), are listed below in order. The stations are divided by their present-day prefecture and include the name of their present-day city/town/village/districts, with historic provinces listed below.

The authors have chosen to reference Keisai Eisen’s earlier prints, 1821-1823, with Hiroshige’s prints from the Great Tōkaidō, 1833-1834, as thumb nails although his images are later.

Map of the 53 stations plus start (Edo) and terminus (Kyoto).

Edo (Tokyo)

Nihonbashi has a highway distance marker, a km zero stone, from which all modern highway distances are measured.

Starting Location: Nihonbashi (Chūō-ku)

1st station: Shinagawa-juku (Shinagawa)

Kanagawa Prefecture

2nd station: Kawasaki-juku (Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki)

3rd station: Kanagawa-juku (Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama)

4th station: Hodogaya-juku (Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama)

5th station: Totsuka-juku (Totsuka-ku, Yokohama)

6th station: Fujisawa-shuku (Fujisawa)

7th station: Hiratsuka-juku (Hiratsuka)

8th station: Ōiso-juku (Ōiso, Naka District)

9th station: Odawara-juku (Odawara)

10th station: Hakone-juku (Hakone, Ashigarashimo District)

Shizuoka Prefecture

11th station: Mishima-shuku (Mishima)

12th station: Numazu-juku (Numazu)

13th station: Hara-juku (Numazu)

14th station: Yoshiwara-juku (Fuji)

15th station: Kanbara-juku (Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka)

16th station: Yui-shuku (Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka)

17th station: Okitsu-juku (Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka)

18th station: Ejiri-juku (Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka)

19th station: Fuchū-shuku (Aoi-ku, Shizuoka)

20th station: Mariko-juku (Suruga-ku, Shizuoka)

21st station: Okabe-juku (Fujieda)

22nd station: Fujieda-juku (Fujieda)

23rd