Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)
Nihonbashi: Morning Scene
日本橋 朝之景 · Nihonbashi, asa no kei
Utagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34
What it is
Dawn at Nihonbashi: a daimyō procession steps onto the bridge behind its spear-bearers while fishmongers scatter with the morning catch — the first sheet of the series and the first step of the three-hundred-mile road to Kyoto.
Why it matters
Nihonbashi was the zero-marker of Japan, the point from which every distance on every road was measured; Hiroshige opens here at first light, and the series that follows became the best-selling landscape set in the history of the medium.
What to notice
The spear tips crest the arc of the bridge before the marchers do — the procession announced by its silhouette; at left, the fish market that fed Edo is already at work.
Every road in Japan begins at this bridge. So does this one.
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 Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP471
- bokashi
Impression note. The dawn sky carries a hand-wiped bokashi band that differs with every printing; early and later editions also differ in the crowd at left, where the block was recut to add more townsfolk. 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)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
Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)Numazu: TwilightUtagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.