Utagawa Hiroshige's Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō is one of the defining achievements of Japanese ukiyo-e landscape printmaking. Published in the early 1830s, the famous Hōeidō series follows the great Tōkaidō highway from Nihonbashi in Edo to Sanjō Bridge in Kyoto through snow-covered villages, mountain passes, rivers, ferries, coastal settlements and bustling post towns.
Although the series is called The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, the complete Hōeidō sequence contains 55 woodblock prints: the fifty-three official post stations plus the departure from Nihonbashi and the final arrival in Kyoto.
This complete guide follows the journey in order and explores what Hiroshige shows in each design. To browse the series as fine art prints, framed prints and canvas panels, visit GalleryThane's dedicated Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō collection. For landscapes, Edo views, fish and nature subjects beyond this series, explore the wider Andō Hiroshige Prints collection.
What Was the Tōkaidō?
The Tōkaidō, meaning Eastern Sea Road, was the principal highway connecting Edo – present-day Tokyo – with Kyoto. Running for roughly 500 kilometres, it followed Japan's eastern and southern coastline through a constantly changing landscape of plains, mountains, rivers and coastal settlements.
Fifty-three official post stations provided travellers with accommodation, food, horses, porters and other services. Merchants, pilgrims, samurai, officials and daimyō processions all used the road, making it both a vital transport route and one of the most familiar journeys in Edo-period culture.
The Tōkaidō road photographed by Felice Beato in 1865.
Travelling its full length could take around ten days to two weeks, depending upon conditions. Rivers without bridges, mountain passes, ferries and bad weather could all complicate the journey.
Map of the Tōkaidō route and its post stations.
Why Are There 55 Hiroshige Prints If There Were 53 Stations?
The title refers to the fifty-three official post stations between Edo and Kyoto. Hiroshige's complete Hōeidō series also includes an opening scene at Nihonbashi, the starting point of the road, and a final image showing travellers arriving at Sanjō Bridge in Kyoto.
The complete sequence therefore consists of:
Nihonbashi departure + 53 post stations + Kyoto arrival = 55 designs.
Nihonbashi remains the traditional point from which road distances to Tokyo are measured.
Hiroshige and the Journey from Edo to Kyoto
Hiroshige is recorded as having joined an official Tokugawa-government procession travelling from Edo to Kyoto in 1832. The delegation was associated with the presentation of horses to the imperial court.
The experience of travelling the Tōkaidō became closely connected with the celebrated landscape series that followed. However, the prints should not be understood as straightforward documentary records made directly from sketches at every station.
Hiroshige combined observation with established travel imagery, artistic invention and deliberate alterations of weather, geography and scale. His aim was not simply to map the road but to communicate the experience and atmosphere of travelling through it.
Memorial portrait of Utagawa Hiroshige.
The Hōeidō Tōkaidō
Hiroshige returned to the Tōkaidō repeatedly during his career, producing numerous different series based on the road. The version explored here is the best-known and is normally called the Hōeidō Tōkaidō after its principal publisher.
Published around 1833–34, the series achieved extraordinary popularity and helped establish Hiroshige as one of the leading landscape artists of ukiyo-e.
Its success was based partly on the remarkable variety Hiroshige extracted from a single journey. Some prints concentrate on towns and inns; others almost eliminate architecture completely. Travellers cross rivers, struggle against rain, walk through snow, ride horses, board ferries and pause at roadside teahouses.
Landscape, Weather and Everyday Travellers
Hiroshige's great innovation was his ability to make ordinary travel feel poetic.
His figures are rarely heroic. They carry luggage, hurry through rain, wait for boats, climb hills and stop for food. The landscapes surrounding them may be beautiful, difficult or threatening, but people remain part of the environment rather than simply observers of it.
Weather is particularly important. Snow transforms Kanbara and Kameyama. Sudden rain drives travellers across the slopes at Shōno. Heavy rainfall darkens Tsuchiyama. Mist almost dissolves the landscape at Mishima.
Bokashi and Hiroshige's Atmospheric Colour
Many of the series' atmospheric effects depend upon bokashi, a sophisticated woodblock-printing technique in which colour is gradually applied across a block to create tonal transitions rather than a single uniform area.
Bokashi enabled printers working with Hiroshige's designs to create fading skies, mist, distant mountains, water and changing light.
Ukiyo-e printmaking was collaborative. Hiroshige designed the images, but skilled block cutters, printers and publishers were essential to translating those designs into finished colour woodblock prints.
The Complete Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō
The journey below follows the road westwards from Nihonbashi in Edo through all fifty-three post stations before reaching Sanjō Bridge in Kyoto.
Departure – Nihonbashi 日本橋
The journey begins at Nihonbashi, the great bridge at the centre of Edo from which major road distances were measured. A daimyō procession crosses the bridge at dawn while fishmongers carrying baskets crowd the foreground. Hiroshige begins the series not with an empty landscape but with a city already awake, establishing travel, commerce and human movement as central themes of the journey.
1. Shinagawa 品川
At Shinagawa, the first official post station, a daimyō procession passes a row of teahouses and inns beside Edo Bay. Sailing vessels fill the water beyond the road. The city has not quite disappeared, but the traveller is already leaving central Edo and beginning the long journey towards Kyoto.
2. Kawasaki 川崎
Travellers cross the Tama River by ferry as Kawasaki waits on the opposite bank. Fuji appears far beyond the settlement, while the low river landscape creates a broad sense of space. The ferry immediately introduces one of the practical realities of Tōkaidō travel: important river crossings could interrupt the road and require boats, porters or careful timing.
3. Kanagawa 神奈川
The road climbs along a hillside above Kanagawa Bay, where ships and smaller boats occupy the blue water below. Inns and teahouses line the steep roadside, their elevated position giving travellers extensive views across the harbour.
4. Hodogaya 保土ヶ谷
Travellers cross Shinmachi Bridge towards the settlement at Hodogaya. A palanquin and its bearers approach the village while roadside buildings await arriving travellers. The bridge creates a strong foreground threshold, turning the simple act of entering a post town into the main subject.
5. Totsuka 戸塚
At Totsuka, travellers pause beside a roadside establishment. One traveller dismounts from a horse while others prepare to continue. Located roughly a day's journey from Nihonbashi, Totsuka was a natural early stopping point.
6. Fujisawa 藤沢
A large torii gate dominates the foreground at Fujisawa while travellers cross the bridge below and buildings climb towards the temple complex beyond. Hiroshige layers religious architecture, road traffic and river landscape within a carefully constructed view.
7. Hiratsuka 平塚
The road bends sharply through open fields at Hiratsuka as travellers move towards distant mountains. Mount Fuji appears beyond the darker foreground hills. Hiroshige opens the composition dramatically, allowing road, fields and distant peaks to define the journey.
8. Ōiso 大磯
Rain falls across the coastal settlement at Ōiso as travellers continue along the darkened road. Trees, rooftops and the distant coast are simplified by the weather, while diagonal rain lines create movement across the entire design.
9. Odawara 小田原
Travellers cross the broad Sakawa River on their approach to Odawara, the important castle town before the difficult passage through Hakone. The shallow crossing spreads human activity across a wide horizontal landscape.
10. Hakone 箱根
Hakone is transformed into one of the series' most spectacular mountain compositions. A daimyō procession negotiates a precipitous pass while sharply coloured mountains rise above Lake Ashi. Hiroshige exaggerates form and colour to communicate the physical difficulty and visual drama of crossing the mountains.
11. Mishima 三島
Morning mist envelops Mishima as travellers pass the torii of Mishima Shrine. Buildings and figures emerge gradually from the pale atmosphere. It is one of Hiroshige's finest demonstrations of how tonal restraint can communicate weather and distance.
12. Numazu 沼津
A full moon hangs behind tall trees as travellers follow the river road towards Numazu. The cool evening palette gives the design a quiet mood very different from the bright daylight scenes elsewhere in the series.
13. Hara 原
Mount Fuji becomes so immense at Hara that its summit extends beyond the upper edge of the print. Small travellers below provide a human measure against the enormous mountain. By allowing Fuji to break the frame, Hiroshige creates one of the series' most memorable statements of scale.
14. Yoshiwara 吉原
Travellers proceed through a landscape of pine trees while Mount Fuji appears beside the road. This section became famous for the unusual change in the mountain's apparent position as the highway turned inland.
15. Kanbara 蒲原
Deep snow blankets Kanbara as three travellers make their way through the almost silent village at evening. White roofs and slopes merge into the surrounding landscape, interrupted only by dark trees and figures. The imagined snowfall creates one of the most poetic winter landscapes in ukiyo-e.
16. Yui 由比
Rather than showing the post town itself, Hiroshige takes the traveller high above Suruga Bay. A narrow cliffside path overlooks brilliant blue water, sailing boats and distant Mount Fuji. The elevated viewpoint makes this one of the series' most expansive coastal landscapes.
17. Okitsu 興津
Travellers are carried across the shallow Okitsu River, one on horseback and another in a palanquin. The cumbersome crossing provides both humour and practical insight into travel before bridges connected every section of the highway.
18. Ejiri 江尻
Ejiri opens onto a broad view of Suruga Bay filled with anchored and sailing boats. The Miho pine grove and surrounding mountains stretch across the distance. Hiroshige creates an unusually expansive maritime panorama.
19. Fuchū 府中
Travellers ford the Abe River west of Fuchū. A woman is carried in a palanquin while porters and other travellers negotiate the water on foot. The figures form a chain across the river, revealing the labour required to move people and baggage along the Tōkaidō.
20. Mariko 丸子
Two travellers eat at a modest roadside teahouse at Mariko while another departs along the road. The station was associated with tororo-jiru, grated yam soup, and Hiroshige turns a local speciality into one of the series' most intimate images of travel.
21. Okabe 岡部
The road threads through a narrow green gorge at Utsu-no-yama beside a twisting mountain stream. Steep banks press close to the travellers, producing a strongly enclosed composition.
22. Fujieda 藤枝
Fujieda focuses on the working machinery of the post-station system. Porters prepare loads and horses are changed so travellers, official messages and goods can continue along the highway.
23. Shimada 島田
Travellers spread across the broad shallows and sandbanks of the Ōi River at Shimada. Some walk while others are carried by porters. The crossing dominates the image, illustrating why high water could turn this section of the Tōkaidō into a serious obstacle.
24. Kanaya 金谷
From the opposite side of the Ōi River, Kanaya continues the story of the difficult crossing. Long lines of travellers and porters move across pale sandbanks and channels of blue water beneath distant mountains.
25. Nissaka 日坂
Travellers climb the steep road through Sayo no Nakayama Pass beside the famous Night-Weeping Stone. The road's sharp ascent and towering dark slopes make human figures appear unusually small.
26. Kakegawa 掛川
Strong wind animates the scene at Kakegawa. A kite twists high above the road while travellers cross a bridge and vegetation bends in the surrounding landscape. Hiroshige communicates an invisible natural force entirely through its effects.
27. Fukuroi 袋井
Travellers pause beneath a large tree at an outdoor tea stall. A woman tends a kettle while a porter rests. One of the most ordinary moments in a long journey becomes an image of warmth, food and temporary respite.
28. Mitsuke 見附
Boats wait at the Tenryū River crossing while travellers gather on a distant sandbank. Hiroshige uses the broad pale riverbed and foreground vessels to create considerable depth.
29. Hamamatsu 浜松
A group of travellers warm themselves around a bonfire beneath an enormous tree while Hamamatsu Castle and the town appear in the distance. The trunk divides the composition dramatically.
30. Maisaka 舞阪
Lake Hamana opens across the landscape at Maisaka, where boats and sails move through calm water beneath distant mountains. Hiroshige replaces the confined experience of the highway with an expansive view of sea and sky.
31. Arai 新居
A daimyō procession crosses the waters towards Arai in large boats, one vessel displaying the lord's crest while another carries retainers and baggage. The journey by water leads towards the important Arai checkpoint.
32. Shirasuka 白須賀
Travellers descend along a high road overlooking the distant sea at Shirasuka. Tall pines frame the panoramic coastal view while the procession winds down the slope.
33. Futagawa 二川
Travellers approach a small roadside teahouse across an open, sparsely inhabited landscape. The subdued colours and wide fields give Futagawa a feeling of fatigue and distance.
34. Yoshida 吉田
Workers repair Yoshida Castle while the great bridge across the Toyokawa River stretches into the distance. Hiroshige places the viewer close to the castle scaffolding, using vertical poles to frame the river beyond.
35. Goyu 御油
Evening has fallen at Goyu as attendants from roadside establishments approach travellers and try to persuade them to stop for the night. Open-fronted inns reveal activity inside while the road continues into the darkening distance.
36. Akasaka 赤坂
Hiroshige takes the viewer inside an inn at Akasaka. A large sago palm divides the composition while travellers dine on one side and attendants prepare on the other. The interior viewpoint provides an unusually intimate glimpse of life inside a Tōkaidō post station.
37. Fujikawa 藤川
Officials bow beside the road as a formal procession approaches Fujikawa. Ceremony and ordinary landscape intersect at one of the series' most historically resonant stations.
38. Okazaki 岡崎
The long Yahagi Bridge carries travellers towards the castle town of Okazaki. The bridge sweeps dramatically across the river while the settlement and surrounding hills rise on the opposite bank.
39. Chiryū 池鯉鮒
Horses graze across open fields at Chiryū during the famous early-summer horse market. A pine tree punctuates the broad horizontal landscape while the settlement remains distant. Few designs in the series devote so much space to animals and pasture.
40. Narumi 鳴海
Travellers pass open-fronted shops at Narumi selling the tie-dyed textiles for which the area was famous. Bolts and garments of patterned cloth introduce decorative detail into the post-town scene.
41. Miya 宮
Festival activity unfolds beneath the enormous torii associated with Atsuta Shrine at Miya. Groups of men rush through the foreground, giving the scene unusual energy and making the religious landmark central to the composition.
42. Kuwana 桑名
Sailing vessels approach Kuwana after the long water crossing from Miya. The castle rises beside the port as boats move across a deep blue sea broken by whitecaps.
43. Yokkaichi 四日市
Wind dominates Yokkaichi. A traveller races after a hat blown from his head while a willow bends dramatically and reeds stream across the landscape. With very few elements, Hiroshige makes the invisible weather immediately understandable.
44. Ishiyakushi 石薬師
Autumn fields, harvested rice and the dark grove surrounding the temple create a quiet rural scene at Ishiyakushi. The Suzuka Mountains rise beyond the settlement while seasonal details give the image a clear sense of time.
45. Shōno 庄野
A sudden summer rainstorm catches travellers on the steep road at Shōno. Palanquin bearers race uphill while other figures struggle in the opposite direction. Driving diagonal rain, dark trees and opposing slopes turn a brief change in weather into one of Hiroshige's most dynamic compositions.
46. Kameyama 亀山
Travellers climb a steep snow-covered slope towards Kameyama Castle. Pale ground and sky almost merge, leaving dark trees, figures and architecture to define the ascent.
47. Seki 関
Before sunrise, a daimyō's procession prepares to leave the headquarters inn at Seki. Retainers adjust equipment, bearers wait beside a palanquin and lanterns illuminate the dark early morning.
48. Sakashita 坂下
A roadside teahouse overlooks the dramatic ravine and blue form of Mount Fudesute at Sakashita. Travellers pause at the edge of the landscape rather than occupying a conventional post-town street.
49. Tsuchiyama 土山
Heavy rain falls as a procession crosses a stream towards Tsuchiyama. Umbrellas, hats and rainwear offer little protection while dark trees and buildings deepen the oppressive atmosphere.
50. Minakuchi 水口
Women prepare and hang long strips of kanpyō – dried gourd – beside the road at Minakuchi while a solitary traveller continues through the village. Hiroshige uses regional produce and everyday work to distinguish the station.
51. Ishibe 石部
Travellers gather beside a busy roadside teahouse in the countryside associated with Ishibe. Rather than concentrating on the post town itself, Hiroshige depicts the social experience of stopping for refreshment.
52. Kusatsu 草津
The road is busy at Kusatsu as travellers pass a popular open-fronted teahouse and palanquins hurry in opposite directions. Human movement dominates the foreground, conveying the increased traffic close to the western end of the route.
53. Ōtsu 大津
Heavy ox carts descend the road at Ōtsu past the Hashirii teahouse, a popular final stopping place before Kyoto. Travellers, animals, goods and roadside commerce crowd the composition.
Arrival – Kyoto – Sanjō Bridge 京師
The journey ends at the great Sanjō Bridge across the Kamo River in Kyoto. Travellers cross towards the imperial capital while houses, temples and mountains extend beyond the river. The bridge provides a clear visual conclusion to the route that began at Nihonbashi, completing the Hōeidō series with its fifty-fifth design.
What Makes the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō So Important?
The Hōeidō Tōkaidō transformed a familiar highway into one of the great visual journeys in Japanese art.
Hiroshige's achievement lies partly in variety. Fifty-five images based upon a single route could easily have become repetitive, yet each design establishes a distinctive combination of landscape, weather and human activity.
Mountains crowd the traveller at Hakone. Snow silences Kanbara. Rain drives people across Shōno and Tsuchiyama. Ferries interrupt the road at Kawasaki and Kuwana. Inns and teahouses dominate Goyu, Akasaka and Kusatsu.
The road provides the structure, but changing experience provides the subject.
Hiroshige's Travellers
The people who populate the Tōkaidō are essential to the character of the series.
They are merchants, pilgrims, porters, samurai, officials, labourers and ordinary travellers. Some walk; others ride horses or are carried in palanquins. They eat at roadside establishments, wait for ferries, shelter from rain and cross rivers.
Hiroshige therefore avoids separating landscape from everyday life. Roads, weather and terrain acquire meaning because people must move through them.
Weather as a Subject
Few artists have made weather such an important part of landscape imagery.
In the Tōkaidō series, rain and snow do far more than indicate the season. They change behaviour, simplify colour and reshape the entire composition.
Kanbara – Evening Snow is quiet because snow absorbs detail and reduces the landscape to a small number of pale and dark forms.
Shōno – Sudden Rain achieves almost the opposite effect. Diagonal rain and running travellers create speed and urgency.
The Tōkaidō as a Portrait of Edo-Period Travel
Taken as a complete sequence, the series also reveals the practical realities of long-distance movement in nineteenth-century Japan.
The traveller repeatedly encounters rivers, ferries, mountain passes, checkpoints, inns and relay stations. Horses and porters must be organised. Food and accommodation are required. Weather can slow progress.
The road therefore connects spectacular landscapes with an extensive system of people and services required to make travel possible.
Hiroshige and Hokusai
Hiroshige's rise as a landscape printmaker followed the remarkable success of Katsushika Hokusai's landscape series, particularly Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji.
The two artists approached landscape differently. Hokusai frequently builds compositions around forceful geometry and dramatic natural forms, while Hiroshige is often more concerned with changing atmosphere, weather and the experience of moving through a place.
GalleryThane's complete guide to Hokusai's Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji provides a useful comparison between the two defining landscape series.
Which Hiroshige Tōkaidō Prints Are the Most Famous?
Kanbara – Evening Snow and Shōno – Sudden Rain are among the most internationally recognised images in the series because of their exceptional treatment of weather.
Hakone is notable for its extraordinary mountain composition, while Hara makes Mount Fuji so large that its summit escapes the edge of the print.
Nihonbashi and Kyoto have special importance as the beginning and conclusion of the journey.
Choosing a Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō Print
For snow, consider Kanbara or Kameyama. For rain and movement, Shōno and Tsuchiyama are particularly effective. Mountain landscapes include Hakone, Hara and Sakashita, while Kuwana, Maisaka and Ejiri provide strong maritime subjects.
Prints centred on everyday life include Fukuroi, Goyu, Akasaka and Minakuchi.
Browse GalleryThane's dedicated Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō collection to compare individual stations and complete sets.
Displaying Hiroshige Tōkaidō Prints
The shared horizontal format and common journey make Tōkaidō prints particularly suitable for displaying in pairs or larger groups.
A weather-themed group might combine Kanbara, Shōno and Tsuchiyama. A beginning-and-end pairing can unite Nihonbashi with Kyoto. Mountain compositions such as Hara and Hakone can be grouped together, while coastal and ferry scenes create another coherent theme.
The restrained blues, greens, greys and earth tones found throughout the series work particularly well with Scandinavian, Japandi, minimalist and contemporary interiors.
About Utagawa Hiroshige
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), also widely known as Andō Hiroshige, was one of the great masters of Japanese ukiyo-e.
Born in Edo into a family associated with the shogun's fire brigade, Hiroshige entered the Utagawa school and initially worked across several established print subjects.
Landscape became increasingly important during the 1830s. The enormous success of the Hōeidō Tōkaidō established his reputation and led to a remarkable career depicting roads, famous places, cities, rivers, mountains and seasonal weather.
His later masterpieces include One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, while his wider output also encompasses birds, flowers, fish and figure subjects.
Explore these other aspects of his work in GalleryThane's Andō Hiroshige Prints collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō?
They are a celebrated series of Japanese colour woodblock prints by Utagawa Hiroshige depicting the historic Tōkaidō highway between Edo and Kyoto.
When did Hiroshige create the famous Tōkaidō series?
The best-known Hōeidō edition was published around 1833–34 during the Edo period.
Why are there 55 prints in a series called Fifty-Three Stations?
The road contained fifty-three official post stations, but Hiroshige also included the starting point at Nihonbashi and the final arrival in Kyoto. The complete Hōeidō sequence therefore contains 55 designs.
What does Hōeidō mean?
Hōeidō was the publishing name associated with Takenouchi Magobei, the principal publisher of Hiroshige's famous early Tōkaidō series.
Did Hiroshige actually travel the Tōkaidō?
Hiroshige is recorded as having joined an official procession from Edo to Kyoto in 1832. However, scholars do not assume that every design in the finished series was simply copied from a sketch made directly at each location. Observation, existing travel imagery and artistic invention all contributed to the prints.
How long was the Tōkaidō?
The historic road ran for roughly 500 kilometres between Edo and Kyoto. A journey could take around ten days to two weeks depending upon conditions.
What are the most famous Hiroshige Tōkaidō prints?
Kanbara, Shōno, Hakone, Hara and Nihonbashi are among the best-known designs, although the series contains many other important landscapes and travel scenes.
Are the Fifty-Three Stations paintings?
No. The Hōeidō series consists of colour woodblock prints created through the collaborative ukiyo-e production process involving artist, block cutters, printers and publishers.
What is bokashi?
Bokashi is a Japanese woodblock-printing technique used to create gradations of colour. It was particularly important to Hiroshige's atmospheric skies, water, mist and distant landscapes.
Did Hiroshige create more than one Tōkaidō series?
Yes. The success of the Hōeidō series led Hiroshige to return repeatedly to the Tōkaidō in different formats and compositions throughout his career.
Where can I see all 55 GalleryThane Tōkaidō prints?
Browse the complete GalleryThane Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō collection, which includes individual stations and complete-set options.
Related Japanese Art Guides
Compare Hiroshige's Tōkaidō journey with Hokusai's Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, or explore a wider range of ukiyo-e and Japanese artists in GalleryThane's Japanese Art Prints collection.
