Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (Hōeidō edition)
Seki: Early Departure from the Headquarters Inn
関 · Seki
Utagawa Hiroshige · c. 1833–34
What it is
Before dawn at Seki, the forty-seventh station, attendants make a lord’s procession ready at the headquarters inn, under curtains printed with his crests.
Why it matters
Hiroshige made the series after travelling the road himself, and he shows the stations as working places: here, the business of getting a great household moving.
What to notice
The curtains with their crests fill one side of the sheet, and the figures move in half-light beneath them.
Every long road begins with people packing in the dark.
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 · JP2487
Impression note. Hiroshige made the series after his first trip along the Tōkaidō in 1832, and it became the best-selling set of ukiyo-e prints, so impressions vary widely in strength and colour. This is the largest clean open impression of the design the Met holds. 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. 1833–34The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.