Ujibashi

Catalog note / 解説

As they cross the Uji Bridge at the entrance to the Inner Shrine precinct they discover men standing in the Isuzu River holding long nets to catch any coins thrown into the river as alms for the shrine. The two heroes of \"Shanks' Mare Tokaido\" (Tokaido Hizakurige) by Jippensha Ikku, here depicted by Tamenobu. The author Ikku was a popular comic writer of the Tokugawa period (19th century) and this was the first 'translation' of the two scoundrels' adventures on the Tokaido highway into Ukiyo-e. Most of the landscape designs bear more than a passing acknowledgment to the designs of Hiroshige for his Great Tokaido series. The two travellers Mr. Yaji and Mr. Kita single-handedly demolished a…