UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)

Depicting Tokaido Road in ukiyo-e has a long history, dating back to late 17th century. Among all the great ukiyo-e masters' Tokaido pictures, including those by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) and Kitagawa Utamaro (1754-1806), Hiroshige's Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi (Fifty-three stations of the Tokaido) first published by Hoeido and Senkakudo around 1834 is still argubaly the most commercially successful one. Known as the Great Tokaido or the First Tokaido, this series brought enormous fame to Hiroshige and lead to his various revisit to the theme, commissioned by other publishers.
Maintained with good condition, the present lot was published by Yueido around 1843-47, also known as Aritaya Tokaido. This series shares similar ambience with the Great Tokaido, noting the delicate and poetic character of early Hiroshige's prints. Tremendous efforts must be made to produce these charming prints in such exquisite size, only a qurter of the Great Tokaido.