Hiroshige Utagawa - Okitsu: The Okitsu River and Satta Pass (五十三次名所図会 十八 興津 おきつ川さつたの峠)

This print is No. 18, 'Okitsu: The Okitsu River and Satta Pass,' from Utagawa Hiroshige's late series 'Famous Sights of the Fifty-three Stations' (Gojusan-tsugi meisho zue), a vertical-format Tokaido set published in 1855 (Ansei 2) by Tsutaya Kichizo (Koeido). Having just descended the steep Satta Pass, rendered here as layered blue-green ridges across the upper sheet, travelers ford the shallow Okitsu River at the heart of the composition. Because no permanent bridge spanned the river, crossings were made on foot or on the shoulders of porters; Hiroshige animates the scene with sumo wrestlers carried in a palanquin and on horseback, their bearers straining comically against the current while other figures wade across with baggage balanced overhead. The diagonal sweep of the river and the scattered rocks of the far bank give the design its characteristic sense of movement and depth. In the upper right, the red title cartouche identifies the series, the station 'Okitsu,' and the number 18; at lower left the in-plate signature 'Hiroshige ga' appears in a red cartouche above the publisher, censor and date seals. Works of this kind, prized for their lyrical treatment of season, weather and everyday travel, were exported to Europe from the late nineteenth century and became emblematic of Japonisme.