Hiroshige II's series 'The Tōkaidō' (1863)

Introduction

The stage name is at the bottom of the rectangular cartouche in the top right corner, and the series title is at the top.

The earliest prints in this series date from toward the middle of Hiroshige II's career, when he was about thirt-seven years old. At this point, he was still using the name 'Hiroshige', since his master Hiroshige I had died, and Hiroshige II had taken over the gō 'Hiroshige'.

He did two very similar series of this name, in the vertical chūban format; the ones in this series can be easily distinquished because the ones from this series are signed 'Hiroshige'. In all other respects (title cartouche format, etc), the two series are identical.

It is certain that they are different series, however: images of the complete series are available here, here, and here, and it can be seen that the images shown here are from this series; images from the later series do not match.

Technical details

• Dates: 1863 (Boar - Bunkyū 3), 8th month - 1864, 2nd month
• Size: vertical chūban
• Signed: Hiroshige

The Prints

Sometime the kanji used in the stage name in the title are not the canonical ones; if so, those are given in brackets.

Note that there are two Kyōto images (as is sometimes seen in small-format Tōkaidō series, which are usually printed with more than one stage per sheet, to make an even number of images).

Images	Number	Date	Title (Kanji)	Title (Romaji)	Comment
	#3		川崎	Kawasaki
	#4	1863/8	神奈川	Kanagawa
	#5		程ヶ谷	Hodogaya
	#6	1863/8	戸塚	Totsuka
	#8		平塚	Hiratsuka
	#11	1863/8	箱根	Hakone
	#12		三嶋	Mishima
	#15	1863/9	吉原	Yoshiwara
	#16		蒲原	Kambara
	#17		由井	Yui
	#18		奥津 (興津)	Okitsu
	#19	1863/9	江尻	Ejiri
	#20		府中	Fuchū
	#21	1864/2	丸子 (鞠子)	Mariko
	#22	1864/2	岡部	Okabe
	#23	1864/2	藤枝	Fujieda
	#24	1864/2	島田 (嶋田)	Shimada
	#25		金谷	Kanaya
	#26	1863/10	日坂 (新阪)	Nissaka
	#27		掛川	Kakegawa
	#28	1863/10	袋井	Fukuroi
	#29		見附	Mitsuke	Although this print is not signed, to confirm which Tōkaidō set it belongs to, the image of the complete set shows that this print is from this series.
	#30	1863/10	濵松	Hamamatsu
	#31	1864/2	舞坂 (舞阪)	Maisaka
	#32	1864/2	荒井	Arai
	#33	1864/7	白須賀	Shirasuka
	#34	1864/7	二川	Futugawa
	#36		御油	Goyu
	#37	1864/2	赤坂 (赤阪)	Akasaka
	#38	1864/2	藤川	Fujikawa
	#43	1864/2	桑名	Kuwana
	#44		四日市	Yokkaichi
	#47	1864/2	亀山	Kameyama
	#48	1864/2	關 (関)	Seki
	#49	1863/8	坂丿下 (阪の下)	Sakanoshita
	#50		圡山 (土山)	Tsuchiyama
	#51		水口	Minakuchi
	#52		石部	Ishibe
	#53		草津	Kusatsu
	#54	1863/8	大津	Otsu
	#55A		京三条	Kyō-Sanjō	This shows the Great Sanjō Bridge (三条 大橋) in Kyōto; the title is somewhat abbreviated.
	#55B	1863/8	京大内	Kyō-dai-uchi	This shows the palace in Kyōto; the title is again somewhat abbreviated. The kanji used for 'palace' are not the usual ones; these mean (literally) 'great house'.

Acknowledgements