#21 Mariko (Restaurant at Mariko Station)

Utagawa Hiroshige

1797–1858

#21 Mariko (Restaurant at Mariko Station), early 1840s, Edo period (1600–1868)

Where object was made: Japan

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 196 x 315 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 7 11/16 x 12 3/8 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 212 x 324 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 8 3/8 x 12 3/4 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 14 x 19 in

Credit line: William Bridges Thayer Memorial

Accession number: 1928.7353

Not on display

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Archive Label, Oct-Dec. 1989: The Tōkaidō (Eastern Sea Route) was the main road connecting the capital of Edo (present-day Tokyo) with Kyoto. The route was heavily traveled by messengers, pilgrims, merchants, and feudal lords. Woodblock prints showing scenes of the 53 stations along the Tōkaidō became popular in the nineteenth-century. Hiroshige was the most celebrated artist of this subject. In the left print, a humorous battle of the sexes is taking place outside an inn at the staton of Goyu. Two stout women are trying to drag in more customers. One man is almost choked by the woman's muscle. In the right print, two travelers stop by a restaurant at Mariko to eat a kind of yam paste for which the station town was famous. The humorous expressions tell their hearty enjoyment of the meal. Inside the restourant, woodblock prints are pasted on the wall, indicating their enormous popularity in nineteenth-century Japan.