We cannot ship to the USA due to suspension of the postal services from Malta. (Please read below). The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō refer to the post stations established along the Tōkaidō road during the Edo period in Japan. This coastal route connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and Kyoto, and the post stations served as vital rest stops and checkpoints for travelers. The series of 53 stations, along with the starting and ending points (Nihonbashi in Edo and Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyoto), became a popular subject for ukiyo-e artists whose prints depicted the landscapes and daily life at these stations. The 53 stations were immortalized by the great Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797 - 1858). However, due to passing time, great Tokyo fire etc. the original woodblocks had been lost. So Hoeido asked Gihachiro Okuyama 奥山儀八郎 (1907 - 1981) to carve new blocks so they could be produced again. Later, Okuyama formed the Japan Print Institute, which folded in 1948. Just before this, Okuyama, through the Japan Print Institute, produced the Hoeido edition of the 53 Stations of Tokaido in a limited edition of just 300 pieces. The reproductions by Okuyama fetch a premium as they are very close to the original. Okuyama hand-stamped this print. His stamp is not on the blocks. You can feel the imprint of the stamp on the paper. Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重) or Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重), born Andō Tokutarō (安藤 徳太郎) (1797 – 1858), was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Gihachiro Okuyama was an active woodblock print artist of both the Sosaku Hanga, and the Shin Hanga movement. Okuyama began his formal artistic study with Gajin Kosaka in 1923, and began regularly exhibiting prints with Japan Creative Print Association in 1927. Okuyama founded the Tokyo Advertisement Art Association (Tokyo Kokoku Bijutsu Kyokai) in 1931 and contributed prints to the series One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo (Dai Tokyo Hyakkei) the following year. In 1942, Gihachiro Okuyama joined Umetaro Azechi and Uichi Takayama in the founding of the Shin Hanga Kyokai. During the war, Okuyama participated in Nihon Hanga Hokokai, an organization where Sosaku Hanga and Shin Hanga artists worked together to obtain printing materials during wartime. He began his own publishing firm, the Japan Print Institute (Nihon Hanga Kenkyusho), following the war. The firm published reproductions of famous ukiyo-e woodblock prints, but folded in 1948. Okuyama then founded a print workshop in Matsudo in 1954, printing his own landscapes in addition to facsimiles of famous Eastern and Western artworks. This print is in excellent condition. It has never been framed and always stored in a dark place. Due to the introduction of the import tariff system in 2025, Maltapost has suspended all postal services to the USA until further notice. If you live in the USA, you will need to give an alternative address outside of the USA for shipments. Otherwise, please refrain from bidding.