Book Description

The Scenic Places of the Tōkaidō (Tōkaidō Meisho no Uchi) by 17 artists is based on the list of prints on the Kunisada Project website run by Dr Horst Graebner with a total of 162 ukiyo-e prints. It is a fantastic work, an effort presumably directed by the shogun's political office to commemorate his attempt to preserve a joint rulership with the emperor over Japan. It differs from the many other Tōkaidō series by the large number of prints, at least three times as many in a series. If differs by the number of people in the prints - the procession consisted of 3,000 people. It also marks the end of the ukiyo-e Tōkaidō, where the forced travel of the damiyō - sankin-kōtai - had contributed so much to the economic and cultural development along these roads and indeed to the whole print making industry. The shogun abolished sankin-kōtai in 1862. The ukiyo-e series 'Tokaido meisho-no-uchi' from 1863 is often called a teamwork of different publishers and artists. It would likely be more precise to call it a coordinated project by the shogun's political staff that was rebuffed by political competitors. In 1863 the Tokugawa shogunate was in a state of final weakness and dissolution. It was a somewhat desperate attempt to ensure a joint rule by the emperor and the shogun, or their respective staffs.