Utagawa Yoshimori

1830-84

The Tokaido [Processional Tokaido]: The Shishinden in Kyoto
(Tokaido no uchi [Gojoraku Tokaido]: Kyoto shishinden)

signed Ikkosai Yoshimori ga, with publisher's seal Yo Takichi (Otaya Takichi), and censor's seal i-yon aratame (year of the boar [1863] 4th month, examined), 1863

oban tate-e 13 5/8 by 10 in., 34.6 by 25.3 cm

In 1863 twenty-four publisher's and sixteen artists produced a total of 162 designs for an ambitious collaborative series to commemorate the historic journey of Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi (1846-1866) from Edo to Kyoto for the purpose of visiting the Emperor Komei (1831-1867). It was a command performance: alarmed by the encroachment of foreigners pushing for access to Japan's ports and unrestricted trade, the Emperor sent an envoy to Edo the previous year with a message requesting (demanding) that the shogun and all the daimyo come to Kyoto to discuss how expell the barbarians at the proverbial gates. The procession included roughly 3,000 foot soldiers, cavalry and gunmen, and took approximately 20 days. It was the first such vist by a shogun to the Imperial court in 229 years, and one of the last displays of shogunal pomp and presence of the Edo period before the feudal system was dissolved and Emperor Meiji was restored to practical Imperial rule in 1868.

The series was variously titled on the prints: Tokaido no uchi (The Tokaido), Tokaido meisho no uchi (Famous Sights along the Tokaido), or Tokaido meisho fukei (Famous Landscape Sights Along the Tokaido) and on the two different table of contents that were issued (the first incomplete): Tokaido gojusan tsugi zue (Assemblage of pictures of the Fifty-Three Stations Along the Tokaido). Given the inconsistencies of the titles, the series is collectively known as Gojuraku Tokaido (The Processional Tokaido), and was one of the largest collaborative ukiyo-e series ever produced. Yoshimori contributed 14 designs to the series, and in this case the series title is simplified, reading Tokaido.

References:
Andreas Marks, When the Shogun Travels to Kyoto: The Great Processional Tokaido Series, in Andon 81, Society for Japanese Arts, 2007, cat. no. 55 (126)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession nos. 11.16250; 11.16671; 11.44764; 2009.5009.126

(inv. no. C-3384)

price: $450