Hara: Mount Fuji in the Morning - After Utagawa Hiroshige

Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858)
Title: Hara: Mount Fuji in the Morning
Series: The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō
Original Design Date: c. 1833–1834
Original Publisher: Takenouchi Magohachi (Hōeidō)
Reprint Publisher: Daiichi Kōgei
Edition: 20th-century Shōwa-period recarved edition
Medium: Genuine Japanese color woodblock print
Format: Ōban yoko-e
Paper Size: 14.25 X 10.125 in

This genuine Japanese woodblock print is a 20th-century Daiichi Kōgei reproduction of Hiroshige’s Hara, the thirteenth station of the Tōkaidō, from his celebrated Hōeidō Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō. The original design was published around 1833–34 by Takenouchi Magohachi (Hōeidō). The red Daiichi Kōgei-ban inscription in the lower left margin identifies this impression as a later recarved edition rather than an Edo-period printing.

Hara is dominated by an enormous view of Mount Fuji rising behind the marshlands outside the station. Hiroshige deliberately allows the mountain’s summit to extend beyond the upper border of the image, a simple but remarkably effective device that makes Fuji appear too large to be contained by the picture itself. Three travelers make their way along the road in the foreground while two cranes stand quietly in the marsh. The tiny figures, birds, and distant landscape emphasize the extraordinary scale of the mountain.

The composition is one of the most recognizable views from Hiroshige’s original Tōkaidō series. Its restrained palette and broad areas of open space give the landscape a calm, monumental quality, while the cropped summit is an early example of the unconventional compositional techniques Hiroshige would continue to develop throughout his career.

Inscriptions & Marks:

• Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige
• Title: Hara (原)
• Series: Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi no Uchi (東海道五拾三次之内), “The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō”
• Station: Hara, the thirteenth station of the Tōkaidō
• Original design date: c. 1833–1834
• Original publisher: Takenouchi Magohachi (Hōeidō)
• Reprint publisher: Daiichi Kōgei
• Red Daiichi Kōgei edition mark in lower left margin
• Hiroshige signature reproduced from the original design
• Genuine carved-and-printed Japanese woodblock reproduction

Condition: Good. Full margins with light overall toning and minor scattered surface marks consistent with age. Minor handling wear and light discoloration to the margins. Colors remain strong and attractive, with particularly good blues and strong definition throughout the landscape.

About the Artist: Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was one of the greatest masters of Japanese woodblock printmaking and the artist most closely associated with landscape ukiyo-e. Best known for his poetic depictions of travel, changing seasons, weather, and the quiet beauty of everyday life, Hiroshige transformed familiar places into deeply atmospheric works through his masterful use of composition and color. His celebrated series, including The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, became some of the most influential prints ever produced in Japan.

About the Series: The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō, commonly known as the Hōeidō Tōkaidō, was published around 1833–34 and was the series that established Hiroshige as one of the leading landscape artists of the ukiyo-e tradition. Following the great highway connecting Edo with Kyoto, the series depicts the road’s post stations as well as its starting and ending points, combining recognizable landscapes with travelers, porters, merchants, pilgrims, and scenes of everyday life.

The series was an enormous success and became the defining project of Hiroshige’s early career. He would return to the Tōkaidō many times, but the Hōeidō edition remains his most famous interpretation of the route. Hara is particularly memorable for its monumental treatment of Mount Fuji, whose summit famously breaks through the upper border of the composition.

About this Edition: This impression is not an Edo-period printing. The red 第一巧藝版 (Daiichi Kōgei-ban)inscription in the lower left margin identifies it as a later Japanese reproduction. Daiichi Kōgei editions were genuine woodblock prints produced from newly carved blocks after historic ukiyo-e designs rather than photomechanical reproductions. For a sales listing, I would conservatively describe this as a 20th-century Shōwa-period Daiichi Kōgei recarved edition unless documentation establishing a more precise publication date is available.