Posted by Anders R. Tokyo (219.185.152.5) on May 17, 2010 at 22:07:37:
In Reply to: Re: Small Hiroshige or not! posted by Horst Graebner on May 08, 2010 at 19:05:20:
The print you have is from a series depicting the major "rest-stops" along the Tokaido Road between Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto. The image you have is the "rest-stop" (or sometimes referred to as the postal station) Akasaka.
You can read more about the place Akasaka here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akasaka-juku
In Japan during the Tempo famines of the 1830s and the early years of the 1840s various austerity measures were instituted. One voluntary such measure was that many more prints were publish in smaller sizes. As the print you have.
Traditionally the dating of this print is the 1830s, however based on the drawing style used in the print and the writing style of the signature it is most likely 1840 or possibly 1841.
In Japan the series from which your print is know as the "Sanoki Tokaido" (after the name of the publisher) in the West it is referred to as the "Kyoka Tokaido" (after the poem form - the witting in the middle of the print).
You have the early and quite rare printing with shading (bokkashi) on the hill on he left side. The one the site http://www.hiroshige.org.uk is a later printing.
Anders