Yui, from the series Fifty-Three Stations of Tōkaidō
Name
Katsushika, Hokusai, 1760-1849 (Artist)
Nishimuraya, Yohachi (Publisher)
Iseya, Rihei (Publisher)
Title
Yui, from the series Fifty-Three Stations of Tōkaidō
Other Titles
Yui 由井, from the series Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi 東海道五十三次
Abstract
The sixteenth station of the Tōkaidō, Yui was well-known for its dangerous paths. In the seventeenth century, to facilitate the travels of Korean emissaries, a new path was carved and opened, making Yui more accessible. In this image, Hokusai depicts a foreign, probably Korean, envoy, who works on calligraphy, while two Japanese officials are watching on.
This series of images illustrating the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō is characteristic of Hokusai's style in the early 1800s, when, unlike several decades later, the artist focused on figures instead of landscape and used the traditional narrati ve device of cloud patterns.