No.Goyu 1847 - 1852

Utagawa Hiroshige made this woodblock print, No.Goyu, which is part of the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, in nineteenth-century Japan. It depicts a busy scene of travelers passing through the Goyu post station, one of many waypoints along the major coastal route connecting Edo, modern-day Tokyo, and Kyoto, the imperial capital. The series was published during the Edo period, a time of relative peace and economic growth under the Tokugawa shogunate. The Tokaido Road became a vital artery for commerce, cultural exchange, and political administration. Hiroshige's work is fascinating as it reflects how the Japanese landscape became a popular subject in art, fueled by increasing domestic travel and the rise of a merchant class with disposable income to spend on art. To understand the social importance of this print, we can look into records of travel, commerce, and the policies of the Tokugawa shogunate. These can shed light on the cultural context that shaped Hiroshige's art.