Changing Porters and Horses at Shōno 1841 - 1842

This is Changing Porters and Horses at Shōno, a woodblock print made by Utagawa Hiroshige, a Japanese artist who died in 1858. Hiroshige evokes the movement of people and goods along the Tōkaidō road, the main route connecting Kyoto to Edo. The image shows laborers changing horses and loads at a post station. This print offers a glimpse into the infrastructure that supported commerce and communication in 19th-century Japan. Note the figures in the upper left, seemingly officials overseeing the exchange. Woodblock prints such as these, mass-produced and widely circulated, raise questions about the role of art in documenting and shaping perceptions of social life. Art historians rely on a variety of sources, including travel diaries, government records, and economic surveys, to fully understand the cultural and historical significance of works such as this. The meaning of art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.