Utagawa Hiroshige I
ca. 1832-39
Donated by the Homma family
During the Edo period, the Takanawa Ōkido Gate along the Tōkaidō Road was set up in the Takanawa region as the gateway to the samurai capital of Edo. A wooden gate has been erected between the stone walls constructed on either side of the road. This gate would be opened at dawn and shuttered when the sun went down. The stone walls of the wooden gate are visible in the right hand corner, and also portrays the comings and goings of people on the road, like travelers and those carrying packages.
Utagawa Hiroshige I (1797-1858) was an ukiyo-e artist of the late Edo period. In his early years he worked on paintings of beautiful women and warrior and actor portraits, establishing his standing as a landscape artist in 1833 with the release of his Hōeidō edition of the “Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō” series.