First Draft Ukiyo-e

Famous Sights of the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road: Hamamatsu
Utagawa Hiroshige II

Background

Utagawa Hiroshige II, also referred to as Hiroshige II, Ryusho and Shingenobu (the name given to him by his master, Ando Hiroshige, Hiroshige I).[1] Hiroshige II created prints very much in the same style as his master, Hiroshige I, creating landscapes. Hiroshige II had numerous “Famous Views of…” landscape series. In 1832, Hiroshige traveled the Tokaido Road from Edo to Kyoto, on official duty delivering a symbolic gift from the Shogun to the Imperial court. The landscapes that he encountered on his journey had a great impact on Hiroshige II, during the course of the trip he created numerous sketches and continued to do so after his return to Edo on the Tokaido Road. After he returned home he began working on the first prints of The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido. Eventually, he produced 55 prints in the whole series: one for each station, plus one apiece for the starting and ending points. The Hamamatsu print is one of 30 prints in the Tate-e edition of the collection. These Tate-e prints vary from the others because they are vertical in comparison to the other horizontal prints.

Image of Hamamatsu

Hiroshige’s Fifty-Three Stations depict various time periods, Hamamatsu in particular dates back to the 9th century. In the print the Japanese poet and aristocrat Narihira is shown among the pine trees on the beach of Hamamatsu. The print has many symbolisms ranging from the appearance of Narihira, the colors utilized, composition and the objects shown. It has a poetic evocation with the references to Japanese symbolism making it a meisho print.

COMPOSITION

Content Symbolism

Fall Transition
The season Hiroshige shows in the print is autumn. Autumn is a transition phase; it is when blooms and blossoms become dormant in preparation for the winter months soon to follow. There are a variety of signifiers that imply the autumnal period. The most obvious example of the season is the barren setting; the men on the beach are surrounded by fairly sparse pine trees. The pine trees themselves represent fall in Japanese tradition. Another signifier is the turbulent waves that are seen crashing into the beach. In the fall, swells are more consistent.[2] You can also see in the background that there are boats coming into the coast along with the return of birds. Birds would migrate to Hamamatsu in the autumn because of their fairly moderate temperatures in comparison to other parts of Japan. The colors that make up the print are very fall-like, they are darker colors, lots of brown, blues and greens. Darker, richer colors are more popular in fall months.


Narihira
The Japanese waka poet, Ariwara no Narihira, is famous for his poetry on the seasons and his torrid love affairs. Both of those themes are represented in the image with him and his consorts looking out into the sea, as if he is waiting for someone, possibly his loved one. Another interpretation of his relationship with the sea could be that the turbulent seas are representative of the turmoil of the heart. Narihira is also famously known as the hero of The Tales of Ise; poems that are characterized by an appreciation of nature’s beauty and a melancholy awareness of the briefness of life.[3] Narihira also helps to establish the season since he represents the transience of life since it is when plants and trees appear to die.[4]


Color

Hiroshige II’s use of color helps to direct your eye to the focal points and also helps to tell the story of the print. The utilization of hues, saturation and value aid your eye with perspective and depth. The hues of colors used, mostly browns, black, green and blue help to express the bleakness of the beach that you would often associate with autumn. Color saturation is used to focus the eye on key elements, Narihira and the crashing waves especially. The deep, dark blue of the curl of the wave and of Narihira is highly saturated and very vibrant. When looking at the print up close the deep blue of Narihira’s clothing gives him a 3-dimensional look. The value of the colors vary from high to low, light to dark, the colors are all blended together well giving it a harmonious look and feel.


Spatial Organization

This print uses many different features to give it a unique spatial composition. The image has many types of lines and also uses geometrical perspective. The woodblock print itself is vertical however there are many horizontal lines making up this picture in addition to diagonal lines. There is a sky horizon that gives the viewer a sense of depth. When looking at the image your eyes are drawn to two distinct points, or eye levels, both the sky horizon and distant beach and the beach that is close up, particularly the large pine tree on the left side. The focus of the print is the men on the beach on the far right, lower corner. His focal point is off-center; the literal center of the print is water, or more specifically, the turbulent waves. The fact that the waves are at the “heart” harks back to the theory that the tumultuous seas represent the turmoil of the heart. His organization has a natural flow. He uses the curve of the coast to connect the two concentrated areas of the image, that in the foreground and that of the background. His use of nature and the natural elements to tell a story gives it a very “Japanese” feel. Japanese art is often considered very free flowing, natural, and asymmetric with influences from Zen and Buddhism.

Foreground
In the foreground of the print in the detailed portion of the beach with the pine trees and the group of men in addition to the waves. There does not seem to be very many details put into this print, especially considering how much detail Hiroshige II put into some of his other prints in the collection. The most detail is on the garb warn by Narihira, this is most likely to indicate that Narihira was a courtier, especially since the men that he is surrounded by are in much less ornate clothing. If you did not know anything about Narihira you would still be able to guess that he is a nobleman from the detail that Hiroshige included when creating the men, especially Narihira.

Background
The background is composed by the lines from the horizon and the coast. The coast is given the illusion that it is far away; all you can see is black tree outlines. The only living thing creatures other than Narihira and his cohorts are a flock of birds flying into the dark coast. Most of the background is fairly desolate with the exception of the birds and the three ships that are approaching the coast.

[1] “Utagawa Hiroshige II,” http://www.artelino.com/articles/hiroshige_utagawa_II.asp
[2] “Hamamatsu Seasonal Surf Averages,” http://magicseaweed.com/spot-seasonal-overview.php?spotId=809
[3] “Ariwara no Narihira,” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariwara_no_Narihira
[4] “Golden Fantasies,” http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/japanesescreens/scr11.html