Tora’s Rain (Tear Drop) at Öiso (Station #9)

Catalog note / 解説

The ninth station on the Tökaidö, the coastal village of Öiso is a popular summer vacation area with a famous beach. The rain at Öiso is often called Tora’s Rain in association with a legendary story, the Tale of the Soga Brothers. In the story, a local princess, Tora-gozen, had to leave her lover, Jürö, who was one of three brothers. She shed tears when Jürö successfully avenged his father’s death. The tears were transformed into rain, and were thus known as Tora’s Rain. Hiroshige was a master at depicting different atmospheric effects, especially rainfall, and the well-spaced, straight black lines used here were his standard convention for summer rain, appropriate to Öiso’s identity as a…