東海道五拾三次之内大津/版画/reprint - 歌川広重 - Japan (No reserve price)

Item Description
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Shipping method: The lot will be carefully packaged and sent by DHL or FedEx or EMS depend on the situation. It takes about 3 weeks to receive normally. Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Sometimes Customs or delivery company in your country contact you for Customs clearance via phone or email. Please make sure that you could answer the phone. If you don't, the parcel will return to me and it cost more double shipping fee for reshipping. I appreciate your cooperation.

A fine hand-printed woodblock print (ukiyo-e) depicting "Otsu," Station 53 of the celebrated series "The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido" (Tokaido Gojusan-tsugi), after the original design by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858). This is a later edition in the Reisho Tokaido format, hand-carved and hand-printed on washi paper, bearing the artist's seal "Hiroshige-sen" (廣重専) in a black cartouche and the publisher's red seal on the left margin.
The composition depicts the lively scene at the famous Hashirii Teahouse on the outskirts of Otsu, the last and largest of the fifty-three post stations on the Tokaido highway and the final stop before the imperial capital of Kyoto. In the foreground, ox-drawn two-wheeled carts heavily laden with bales of goods make their way toward Kyoto, driven by workers in Edo-period dress. To the right, the open-fronted teahouse is alive with vendors and travelers. The teahouse was renowned throughout Japan for "Hashirii Mochi" — sweet rice cakes named for the famous gushing spring well ("hashirii-i" or "running well") visible at the lower left, which provided pure water for travelers. Beyond the thatched rooftops, twisted pine trees frame the scene against a soft gradated sky in Hiroshige's characteristic bokashi technique, with the distant peak of Mount Hiei rising behind.
The title cartouche at upper left reads "Tokaido Gojusan-tsugi / Otsu" in formal seal script (reisho), characteristic of the Reisho Tokaido edition. The reverse bears a handwritten colophon recording the block carver (Okura Kenji) and printer (Sato Taizo), testifying to the careful craft of this posthumous edition.
Otsu was a major port on Lake Biwa, Japan's largest lake, and an essential hub for the transport of rice and goods into Kyoto. Hiroshige's depiction captures the energy and humanity of everyday life on the great highway — the ox-carts, the vendors, the travelers — with his characteristic mastery of atmospheric depth and lyrical color gradation. The Tokaido series, first published in 1833–34 by the Hoeido publisher, became the best-selling ukiyo-e series in history and established Hiroshige as the supreme master of Japanese landscape printmaking.
My message / 私のメッセージ
Thank you so much for taking a look at my item. I run a recycle shop in Japan, and I joined Catawiki because I want to share wonderful items filled with Japanese craftsmanship and history with people around the world. Please feel free to message me anytime if you have questions about this piece. With gratitude to all of you — ARIGATO

Shipping method: The lot will be carefully packaged and sent by DHL or FedEx or EMS depend on the situation. It takes about 3 weeks to receive normally. Import duties, taxes, and charges are not included in the item price or shipping cost. These charges are the buyer's responsibility. Sometimes Customs or delivery company in your country contact you for Customs clearance via phone or email. Please make sure that you could answer the phone. If you don't, the parcel will return to me and it cost more double shipping fee for reshipping. I appreciate your cooperation.

Size
Height: 22.5 cm

Width: 33.5 cm

Weight
—

Condition
The print is in excellent condition with vibrant, well-preserved colors and crisp key block lines; no significant fading, foxing, or tears are observed. Not framed; no storage box included.

Artist Profile
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)
Born Ando Tokutaro in Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1797, Utagawa Hiroshige is widely regarded as one of the last great masters of the ukiyo-e tradition and Japan's supreme landscape printmaker. After training under Utagawa Toyohiro, he rose to prominence following his journey along the Tokaido highway in 1832, which inspired his landmark series "The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido" (Hoeido edition, 1833–34). The series was an unprecedented popular and artistic success — the best-selling ukiyo-e prints in history — and established the landscape print (fukeiga) as a major genre of Japanese art. Hiroshige's distinctive use of atmospheric color gradation (bokashi), his lyrical depiction of weather, season, and light, and his empathetic rendering of ordinary travelers and townspeople exerted a profound influence not only in Japan but in Europe, where his work deeply impressed artists including Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet. He passed away in 1858 at the age of 62.
This print is a later hand-carved, hand-printed edition made after Hiroshige's death, faithful to the original Reisho Tokaido composition, with the colophon on the reverse recording the names of the carver (Okura Kenji) and printer (Sato Taizo).

Catawiki出品項目

Type: Woodblock print (ukiyo-e) / 木版画（浮世絵）
Title of Artwork: Hiroshige "Otsu" — Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido, Vivid Reisho Edition Woodblock Print
Artist: 歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) — after / 後摺版
Series: Tokaido Gojusan-tsugi (Reisho Tokaido edition) / 東海道五拾三次（隷書版）
Station depicted: No. 53 Otsu / 第53宿 大津
Origin: Japan / 日本
Material: Woodblock print on washi paper / 和紙・木版多色摺
Edition: Posthumous later edition; carver: Okura Kenji; printer: Sato Taizo / 後摺版（彫：大倉建二、摺：佐藤泰三）
Condition: Excellent
Framed: No / 額装なし
Height: 22.5 cm
Width: 33.5 cm