Yodo River

Catalog note / 解説

This print was conserved with the support of the Robert F. Lange Foundation. The ferryboat pictured here is called a sanjikkoku (thirty-busheler) because it can carry a load of thirty bushels of rice (approx. 190 cubic feet). In the Edo period sanjikkoku were also used as passenger ferries. One of the most hilarious scenes in Adventures Down the Tökaidö is that which takes place on one of these Yodo River ferryboats. The happenings include fervent regional singing showcases, impressions of Kabuki actors, witty repartee, and a fight breaking out. The comic highlights of the scene entail scatology-Yaji needs to relieve himself at an inopportune moment. He urinates in a bottle, which is soon m…