Though the title is The Fifty Three Stations of the Tōkaidō Manga Scroll, the paintings are numbered 1 through 55. This is because the starting location, Nihonbashi, and the final destination, Kyōto, were not numbered in Utagawa (Andō) Hiroshige’s original The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833–1834 in the Hōeidō edition), and the manga scroll follows this precedent. Japanese names are given throughout in Japanese order, family name first and given name last.
The scroll used here, along with another exemplar, was acquired as part of the manga collections in The Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
1st Station: Nihonbashi
- Artist: Okamoto Ippei
- The setting off point for the artists’ journey along the Tōkaidō. At this point, Nihonbashi is becoming a modern business district.
2nd Station: Shinagawa
- Artist: Arita Shigeru
- Two travelers stare out at a gun battery constructed in the Shinagawa Bay, a battery still waiting after some 70 years to defend against the black ships of Commodore Matthew Perry.
3rd Station: Kawasaki
- Artist: Shimokawa Hekoten
- Artists with their red flag crossing by open-air automobile the Tama River over the Rokokubashi.
4th Station: Kanagawa
- Artist: Okamoto Ippei
- Close to Yokohama, home to a large foreign community, a picture of a beloved Western child.
5th Station: Hodogatani
- Artist: Shirota Shūichi
- High thatch roofs as the artists pass by in the automobile.
6th Station: Totsuka
- Artist: Shimizu Taigakubō
- Man leading a horse and cart.
7th Station: Fujisawa
- Artist: Arita Shigeru
- Believers make their way to the temple Yugōji.
8th Station: Hiratsuka
- Artist: Nakanishi Rikkei
- View of Mt. Kobayama with village in the forefront.
9th Station: Ōiso
- Artist: Ikeda Eiji
- A site dedicated to the famous poet Saigyō (1118-1190) and a poem about the loneliness of the traveler.
10th Station: Odawara
Artist: Arita Shigeru
The top of Odawara Castle framed by electric power lines.
11th Station: Hakone
- Artist: Kondō Kōichiro
- A local worker washing deep in the mountains.
12th Station: Mishima
- Artist: Okamoto Ippei
- Okamoto ask the local farm woman to turn around so he can take a photo. She refuses.
13th Station: Numazu
- Artist: Shimizu Taigakubō
- View of Mt. Fuji from the shore of the Kisegawa.
14th Station: Hara
- Artist: Hattori Ryōei
- The Buddhist Zen priest Hakuin Ekaku’s (1668-1768) famous black pine at the temple Shōinji.
15th Station: Yoshiwara
- Artist: Kondō Kōichiro
- A closer view of Mt. Fuji.
16th Station: Kanbara
- Artist: Ikebe Hitoshi
- Students, some with Japanese flags, on an excursion when the lotus blossoms are in full bloom.
17th Station: Yui
- Artist: Kondō Kōichiro
- Man blowing horn to announce departure of his horse-drawn transport.
18th Station: Okitsu
- Artist: Kōuchi Junichi
- The rare case of the Tōkaidō Rail Line passing right through the grounds of a temple, the temple Seikenji.
19th Station: Ejiri
- Artist: Shimizu Taigakubō
- Famous natural scene of a pine forest by the sea, a location recently recognized for its scenic beauty by UNESCO.
20th Station: Shizuoka
- Artist: Okamoto Ippei
- Shizuoka is renowned for its tea fields. A woman tea picker makes fun of the artists passing in their car.
21st Station: Mariko
- Artist: Shimizu Taigakubō
- A place well known for its plum blossoms and teahouses serving yam soup.
22nd Station: Okabe
- Artist: Morishima Naozō
- As soon as one emerges from the Utsunoya Pass Tunnel, Okabe appears.
23rd Station: Fujieda
- Artist: Ogawa Jihei
- Self-sculpted statue of Kumagai Naozane (1141-1207) at the Renshōji Temple. Kumagai was a fierce warrior who repented of his killings and became a Buddhist monk.
24th Station: Shimada
- Artist: Ikebe Hitoshi
- Sumo wrestlers practicing on the sandy river bank of the Ōi River. In the background is the eye-opening pine, the first thing a young blind woman saw when her sight was miraculously restored.
25th Station: Kanaya
- Artist: Ogawa Jihei
- Professional river porters pulling a boat across the Ōi River.
26th Station: Nissaka
- Artist: Hosokibara Seiki
- At the Kyūenji Temple at the Sayo no Nakayama Pass, the priest lectures the artist on the significance of the temple’s precious art object.
27th Station: Kakegawa
- Artist: Hosokibara Seiki
- Bowing to the sacred mountain, Akibayama, in the distance.
28th Station: Fukuroi
- Artist: Mizushima Niou
- The Horse Drawn Railway (electrified in 1923) to Akibayama.
29th Station: Mitsuke
- Artist: Morishima Naozō
- This is the Naked Festival. On the night of Sept. 3, young men naked but for skirts of straw, carrying lanterns, and ringing bells, dance crazily down the main street, the so-called Demon Dance.
30th Station: Hamamatsu
- Artist: Shishido Sakō
- The famous kites of Hamamatsu over the ruins of Hamamatsu Castle.
31st Station: Maisaka
- Artist: Hattori Ryōei
- The land route of the Tōkaidō ended here and travelers took to boats to cross the brackish waters where the Pacific meets the mouth of Lake Hamana. The artists are aboard the ferry, but in the background a train on Tōkaidō Rail Line is visible crossing on the long trestle bridge.
32nd Station: Arai
- Artist: Maekawa Senban
- The port where the ferries from Maisaka landed. Pictured are people being guided to a government office, which is in the same place as the Tokugawa era barrier/checkpoint to regulate travel.
33rd Station: Shirasuka
- Artist: Hosokibara Seiki
- Famous view of the sea on the Tōkaidō from the slope of Shiomizaka.
34th Station: Futagawa
- Artist: Ikebe Hitoshi
- Giant statue of the Kannon Bodhisattva, Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, atop Mt. Iwaya.
35th Station: Toyohashi
- Artist: Kōuchi Junichi
- The famous 50 year old woman bicycle rider making deliveries. In 1920, it was rare for women to ride bicycles and rarer still for older women.
36th Station: Goyu
- Artist: Mizushima Niou
- A lone traveler on the Tōkaidō.
37th Station: Akasaka
- Artist: Yamada Minoru
- Pine trees lining both sides of the highway.
38th Station: Fujikawa
- Artist: Mizushima Niou
- Horse drawn transport waiting for passengers and a horse.
39th Station: Okazaki
- Artist: Hosokibara Seiki
- An apprentice geisha among the famous hanging wisteria.
40th Station: Chiryū
- Artist: Kōuchi Junichi
- There was still a horse market in this town. The tall pine trees that line both sides of the road were used to tie the horses for sale.
41st Station: Narumi
- Artist: Mizushima Niou
- Imagawa Yoshimoto’s “Armor Hanging Pine Tree,” which overlooks the famous battlefield of Okehazama, where Oda Nobunaga defeated Imagawa in 1560.
42nd Station: Nagoya
- Artist: Ogawa Jihei
- Viewing Nagoya Castle through a telescope.
43rd Station: Kuwana
- Artist: Yamada Minoru
- One of the artists eating baked clams. At Miya, the travelers on the Tōkaidō often transferred to boats to make the journey of 7 ri (about 17 miles) to the port of Kuwana.
44th Station: Yokkaichi
- Artist: Morishima Naozō
- At the intersection, the traveler reads the stone road markers: “Right, mountain road to Kyōto/ Ōsaka”/“Left, road to the Ise Shrine”/“Straight, road to Edo.” The large marker reads, “To Ise.”
45th Station: Ishiyakushi
- Artist: Ogawa Jihei
- Pilgrims going to the Ishiyakushi Temple, which is dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai, the Healing Buddha.
46th Station: Shōno
- Artist: Hattori Ryōei
- Boy leading his packhorse.
47th Station: Kameyama
- Artist: Yamada Minoru
- The artists in a car passing the ruins of Kameyama Castle in the rain.
48th Station: Seki
- Artist: Maekawa Senban
- Awaiting the performance of a troupe of blind women from Yamato. It was one customary profession of blind women to organize in local troupes and travel the country performing
49th Station: Sakanoshita
- Artist: Ikebe Hitoshi
- The dangerous mountain pass Suzuka Tōge, famous for robbers, a woman bandit, and demons.
50th Station: Tsuchiyama
- Artist: Maekawa Senban
- Bamboo cutters running for shelter from the rain.
51st Station: Minakuchi
- Artist: Shishido Sakō
- Under an umbrella, the bride arrives in a rickshaw at the home of her new family.
52nd Station: Ishibe
- Artist: Hattori Ryōei
- Mt. Mikami, lightly covered in snow, famous as the Mt. Fuji of this region.
53rd Station: Kusatsu
- Artist: Ikeda Eiji
- A traveler happily eating a type of steamed rice cake, a local specialty.
54th Station: Ōtsu
- Artist: Yamada Minoru
- Fishing in Lake Biwa.
55th Station: Kyōto
- Artist: Kondō Kōichirō
- Sanjō Ōhashi (The Great Third Avenue Bridge, Kyoto) the final destination point of the Tōkaidō. Kyoto is associated in various ways with oxen, the pullers of decorated carts and floats during festivals and the manifestation of the Ox-headed Shinto deity Gozu Tennō, a patron god of Kyoto.
Additional Resources in Japanese related to the Tōkaidō Manga Scroll :
- Link to a library in Japan that discusses the Tōkaidō Manga Scroll (in Japanese)
- Link to discussion of scroll (in Japanese) Youtube Link
- Link to artist list Artist list in Japanese
Reminder:
Though the title is The Fifty Three Stations of the Tōkaidō Manga Scroll, the paintings are numbered 1 through 55. This is because the starting location, Nihonbashi, and the final destination, Kyōto, were not numbered in Utagawa (Andō) Hiroshige’s original The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833–1834 in the Hōeidō edition), and the manga scroll follows this precedent. Japanese names are given throughout in Japanese order, family name first and given name last.
The scroll used here, along with another exemplar, was acquired as part of the manga collections in The Ohio State University’s Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.