TOKAIDO GOJU-SAN-TSUGI c. 19th century

Curator: This is Utagawa Hiroshige's "Tokaido Goju-san-tsugi," a woodblock print now residing at the Harvard Art Museums. It depicts a bustling scene, doesn't it? Editor: Indeed, a hive of activity! The figures, the animals, everything seems to be in motion. There’s a sense of labour and… perhaps a touch of weary resignation in some of their postures. Curator: Absolutely. Hiroshige captured the essence of the Tokaido Road, the main route connecting Edo and Kyoto. It’s not just a landscape; it's a portrait of Edo period society, commerce, and travel. We see the porters and the scribes, but it speaks to the social infrastructure of the period. Editor: The repetition of figures, the way they are bent under burdens, it evokes a feeling of almost endless labour. But I also see resilience there, a visual language of human endurance. Curator: Precisely, and that resonates powerfully even today. Editor: It does. The print offers a moment of reflection on the weight of progress.