Come on the journey from Edo, modern day Tokyo, to Kyoto, as experienced by Utagawa Hiroshige in, when he travelled the road to participate in an important procession in 1832.

There were 53 post stations along this important road, apart from the start and terminus, in all 55 prints, which are all here in the order from Edo to Kyoto, In the Hoeidō edition (1833-34).

This was the most popular print series ever made in Japan. It was even more popular than Hokusai's series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which had been recently published and which had influenced Hiroshige tremendously (ISBN 9781956215243).

It is possible to travel the same road today and some villages are still looking quite like they did back then. The postal stations were constructed between 1601 and 1624.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!