Japanese Ukiyo-e Print – Keisai Eisen – Kuragano Station, Karasu River – 69 Stations of the Kisokaidō – Shōwa Edition

Ukiyo-e print, woodblock print. [Showa era re-edition using traditional Ukiyo-e woodblock printing techniques]

Type of print: Fūkei-ga 風景画 — Japanese landscape/Meisho-e 名所絵 famous place

Series: The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō (木曾街道六拾九次之内 / Kisokaidō rokujūkyū tsugi no uchi).

A major ukiyo-e landscape series, created by Keisai Eisen and Utagawa Hiroshige, two great masters of Japanese prints from the Edo period.

Artist: Keisai Eisen 渓斎英泉 Signed Eisen ga 英泉画.

Publication date: Shōwa era, circa 1960-1980.
Original edition: Edo period, circa 1835-1838.

Title: No. 13 倉賀野宿 烏川之図 Kuragano-shuku, Karasugawa no zu
Kuragano station: view of the Karasu River

Publisher: Hōdō Shuppan 報道出版
Engraver: 伊藤進 — Itō Susumu
Printer: 梶川芳雄 — Kajikawa Yoshio

📏 Format: Ōban yoko-e: with margins: approx. 27.5 × 40.5 cm; without margins: approx. 22 × 34.5 cm

Origin: Japan, found in Kyoto Prefecture.

About the artist: Keisai Eisen

Keisai Eisen, born in Edo in 1790 and died in 1848, was one of the great masters of ukiyo-e from the late Edo period. From the Ikeda family, son of a renowned calligrapher, he first received training related to the Kanō school before studying with Kikukawa Eizan. He then developed a very personal, immediately recognizable style, especially in his bijin-ga — portraits of beautiful women — where he imposed more sensual, modern, and expressive figures than those of the previous generation.

Eisen was also an extremely versatile artist: creator of nishiki-e, surimono, book illustrations, erotic shunga prints, as well as landscapes. He was notably the artist who began the series of Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō, later completed by Hiroshige. In this Kuragano print, his talent as a landscape artist dialogues with his genius for bijin-ga: the women are drawn with elegance, precision, and presence, while the river scene retains a lively popular freshness

Subject

This print depicts Kuragano-shuku, the thirteenth station of the Kisokaidō, also called Nakasendō, the old inland road connecting Edo to Kyoto through the mountains of central Japan.

The scene takes place on the banks of the Karasu River, in a refreshing summer atmosphere. In the foreground, children play and bathe in the water near a small waterfall. One of them dives, while others laugh, chat or handle a turtle in the current!

To the right, a woman washes a rice kama by the water. Further up, another woman in a kimono observes the scene from a pavilion. The boats, low houses, trees, and mountains in the background give the whole scene an impression of peaceful, almost suspended, daily life.

Shōwa re-edition by Hōdō Shuppan, produced using traditional Japanese woodblock printing techniques.

Condition

Perfect condition, no notable flaws.

🦝Our opinion

We are big fans of this print, one of our favorites from the Kisokaido series! The children playing in the river, the woman washing her kama, the one watching the scene from the pavilion, the beauty of the background... everything exudes summer, water, and daily life in the Edo period! We find all of Eisen's talent, for bijin-ga female beauties as well as for animated scenes and landscapes!

The series of The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō or Nakasendō, a collaboration between Eisen and Hiroshige, is often seen as the little sister of the Tōkaidō, but it truly has nothing to envy!

And if you are looking for other prints by ukiyo-e masters, check out our selection of authentic Japanese prints.