Kisokaido Series: Lake Suwa in the Winter (Series by Hiroshige and/or Eisen)
Ikeda Eisen
Description
Subject Matter:
This print is a depiction of Lake Suwa in Nagano Japan, the largest lake in the prefecture. It is printed by Ikeda Eisen a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who specialized in the depiction of beautiful women with large heads "bijin-ga" and "okubi-e".
This series of prints, called the Kisokaido series, was created as joint effort by Ikeda Eisen and Hiroshige who created 23 of the 70 prints.
The Kisokaido that this series and this print is based upon is a 534km long road that linked Edo and Kyoto. This road has 69 stopping places that inspired this series. This print in particular is the 31st. This road is also called the Nakasendo which translates to the "central mountain route", hence the stop in Nagano.
Physical Description:
This print depicts a winter scene on a mountain side opening up to a lake and distant mountain range. People walk along the uphill mountain path on the right. A frozen lake is transversed by many travelers. There are roofed buildings around the large lake and a castle can be seen in the distance at the foot of a snowy mountain range. On the upper right corner are a couple lines of vertical text. There are three seals. One on the far right corner and two at the end of the inscription towards the left.
Usage Rights:
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