Ukiyo-e prints

 

"Famous Sights of the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido: Hamamatsu"

 by Utagawa HIROSHIGE II

Hiroshige II was a designer of Ukiyo-e Japanese woodblock prints. He was originally named Suzuki Chimpei, but as his career as an artist began, Hiroshige I, his master/teacher, gave him the name Utagawa shigenobu. However when Hiroshige I died, he adopted the name "Hiroshige II" after his teacher. Hiroshige II's works are mostly comprised of nature prints, and his earlier works are in the same style as Hiroshige I. Without adding any creativity of his own, Hiroshige II continued his master's works of landscape-styled art by creating several series of landscape prints.  

The woodblock print series of fifty-three stations of the Tokaido was created by Hiroshige I after his travel to Tokaido in 1832. Hiroshige traveled from Edo (Tokyo) to Kyoto for an official duty of delivering gifts to the Imperial court via the Tokaido road. Tokaido was the most important of the five routes of the Edo period that connected Edo to Kyoto. During his journey, Hiroshige was mesmorized by great landscapes and beautiful nature. After he returned home, he began to work on the first prints of the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido. The Fifty-Three stations of Tokaido are rest areas along the Tokaido road. Although the original Fifty-three stations of Tokaido was created by Hiroshige I, many other replicates were also created after his series. Since the fifty-three stations are very attractive and interesting, there is a great possibility that Hiroshige II replicated the beauty of Tokaido after his master for more enjoyment. 

Even Stephen Addiss mentioned in his "How to look at japanese art" that the Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido was very successful, and that publishers wanted to print the "block again and again until they were completely worn out." He states that Tokaido prints were so popular due to Tokaido being a historical place where many different kinds of people with different backgrounds traveled along this road. Since so many people utilized Tokaido along their journey, prints could have served as souvenirs. Even more important, Hiroshige portrayed activities of every social class, changing seasons, and different aspects of nature to show Japan as a whole, which made the prints even more appealing to everyone in Japan.

Hamamatsu is the 29th station of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido. In this image, the courtier/poet Ariwara no Narihira is shown among the pine trees on the beach at Hamamatsu.  Ariwana no Narihira was a famous waka poet, who belonged to a noblest lineage. Most of his poems involved season and nature, and he is most famous for writing "The Tales of Ise," which describes his love affair with his courtly lover, Fujiwara no Takaiko. His romantic sensibility and emotional struggles of his affair are well represented by this image. 

 In this print, Ariwana no Narihira and his five servants (retainers) are on the ground that is covered with sand.  Narihira is standing in the center, and three of his servants, one of them being a samurai with a sword, are sitting on the ground surrounding him. The two other servants are standing behind the samurai, and one of them is holding a parasol. All of Narihira's retainers are wearing "normal" clothes that are modest, while Narihira is wearing a vivid blue garment that shows that he is man of high status. The fact that one of his servant is holding "king's" parasol also represents that he is part of the noble family. Also, Narihira's face is pale, while all of his servants are dark skinned since they work in the fields. Even if people did not know who Narihira was, looking at his decorated garment, parasol, and his skin color would have let the viewer know that he is a courtier. 

Narihira and his servants are surrounded by pine trees that are very tall and curved in a graceful way.  The land itself is surrounded by the turmoil sea with a lot of waves. In the background, there is another dry land on the other side of the bay, and there are birds flying and fishing boats floating on the water. This print also seems to depict the dusk, which brings a mysterious feeling. It is very interesting to see that every aspect of this image points towards Narihira. Narihira's servants' body position is centering around Narihira, the three pine trees are circling around the people, and the sea is  surrounding the dry land and Narihira indirectly. Therefore, Narihira is the center/focus of this print.

This image portrays the season of autumn that is approaching winter. The use of green, brown, black, orange, and white colors bring out the feeling of fall. Also, the birds in the background that seem to be migrating shows that the season is on the verge of changing from fall to winter. The pine trees also signify the season of autumn in Japan. The most representative/important color in this image is blue. The waves are colored from white to a lighter blue to a darker blue, and they are well-blended together. Out of all the colors, blue is most bright and dark. This vibrant blue color is used for both Narihira's garment and the waves of the sea. This harmony of blue color brings out the idea that the turbulent waves are reflecting the turmoil in Narihira's heart. Although the facial expression is not represented well, Narihira's gaze is pointing at the turbulent sea, and is very focused. His gaze can represent the connection between his restlessness and the turmoil of the nature.

The size of this print is oban (vertical), but most of the aspects in the image are depicted horizontally. He  utilizes curves in the pine trees, outlines of the dry lands, and even the birds to bringout a mysterious feeling. The depth of the sea, and the contrast between the background and the foreground gives a real-life depiction. The depth of the sea also portrays the greatness of nature. Utilization of many different aspects of nature shows how much Hiroshige appreciated nature. Every aspect of nature also gives a traditional Japanese feel. The overall design of this print is very active. The waves of the sea and the birds are in movement. Although its not depicted directly, Narihira's emotions and feelings also seem to be in disturbance.  

This print brings a very bizarre, mysterious, yet sad emotions. Every aspect of this image seems uneasy, especially the tension between Narihira and the waves. Even if I did not research on Narihira's life and what he has gone through, I would have imagined for him to have some kind of turmoil in his heart that is reflected by this print. It is also interesting to see that every part of this image is pointing toward Narihira, and emphasizes Narihira's existence in the image. I think this print teaches us that there are a lot of hardships and obstacles that people need to face everyday, and these struggles are reflected and depicted by the turbulent nature of the sea.

The overall quality of this image was pretty good. There were no cuts or stains, but the colors were pretty faded except the blue, which was vivid. The lines were dull and the colors of the image did not fit inside the lines completely.