Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)

Mariko: The Famous Tea Shop

鞠子名物茶店 · Mariko, meibutsu chamise

What it is

Two travelers rest at a thatched roadside teahouse in early spring, bowls of the local specialty in hand — tororo-jiru, grated-yam soup — while the proprietress serves with a child slung on her back.

Why it matters

This teahouse and its yam soup were already literature: Bashō had fixed Mariko’s tororo-jiru in a haiku a century and a half earlier, so Hiroshige is printing a landmark every literate traveler would greet like an old friend.

What to notice

The shop sign hawks the meibutsu — the famous thing — to the road; plum branches are just breaking into blossom overhead, Bashō’s season for the dish.

A famous meal is still just lunch, warm on a cold road.

The record

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797–1858)
Series: Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)
Date: c. 1833–34
Publisher: Hōeidō (Takenouchi Magohachi)
Medium: woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Source: The Art Institute of Chicago · 1939.1360

bokashi

Impression note. Impressions vary in the soft pink of the early-spring sky and blossom, a fugitive tone; the thatch of the teahouse roof shows the cutter’s hand at its most patient in fine printings. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.

Public domain; faithfully reproduced.

Bring it home

Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.

From the same series

Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Nihonbashi: Morning SceneUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34

Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Shinagawa: SunriseUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34

Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Hakone: The LakeUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34

Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Mishima: Morning MistUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34

The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.