Minneapolis Institute of Art

Mariko

Utagawa Hiroshige; Publisher: Sanoya Kihei

Date: c. 1840–42
Medium: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Department: Asian Art
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Art

The Tōkaidō was the main arterial road that connected Edo (present-day Tokyo) with Kyoto. As a result of the increasing travel boom in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the road and its post stations became a popular motif in literature and art. Hiroshige emerged as the foremost designer of Tōkaidō landscape series, producing over twenty different ones. The novelty of this particular series is that each scenic view is accompanied by a comic poem ( kyōka ), and the series therefore became known as the Kyōka Tōkaidō . Each print focuses on a famous scenic view or a local specialty; here it is grated yam soup ( tororo jiru ), served at a popular restaurant that was used as resting stop by porters and travelers. Hiroshige cleverly inserted “product placements” inside the restaurant that would not have been there in reality. They are for the face powder Senjōko, sold by one Mr. Sakamoto in Edo, and for an array of woodblock prints presumably sold by the publisher of this print. Japan, Asia

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Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Minneapolis Institute of Art and other institutions.

No. 21, Mariko: Selling the Famous Yam Soup at the Station (Mariko, Ekichū meibutsu tororojiru o hisagu), from the series Famous Sights of the Fifty-three Stations (Gojūsan tsugi meisho zue), also known as the Vertical Tōkaidō

Harvard Art Museums

No. 21, Mariko: Famous Yam Soup and Distant View of Mount Utsu (Meibutsu tororojiru, Utsu no yama enbō), from the series The Tōkaidō Road, The Fifty-three Stations (Tōkaidō, Gojūsan tsugi no uchi)

Harvard Art Museums

Mariko: Famous Tea Shop (Mariko, meibutsu chamise), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi)," also known as the Hoeido Tokaido

Art Institute of Chicago

Mariko: Famous Tea Shop (Mariko, meibutsu chamise), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi)," also known as the Hoeido Tokaido

Art Institute of Chicago

Mariko: Famous Tea Shop (Mariko, meibutsu chamise), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road (Tokaido gojusan tsugi no uchi)," also known as the Hoeido Tokaido

Art Institute of Chicago