Traversing along the coast of eastern Honshu, Tokaido Route 東海道 is the principal of the Edo Five Routes 五街道 radiating from the capital of Edo. The Tokaido Route is divided into rigorous leagues and at the end of each league stands a marker in the form of a meticulously trimmed round pine tree. Fifty-three established stations 宿場 / 宿駅 on the Tokaido Route serve weary travellers on their journeys as places of refreshment for travellers and relays for horses or porters. The last prophet of ukiyo-e 浮世絵 travels along the Tokaido Route painting infinitely delightful series of woodblock prints of each of the fifty-three stations. However each series truly contains fifty five woodblock prints; the beginning, the fifty three stations and the end of the Tokaido Route. Each series of woodblock prints 東海道五十三次 illustrates minute and humorous poetries of the locales or the natural grace of the landscapes from a travellers vantage point. Or tells the stories of hard working humble folks he meets on his journey, engaging in the ordinariness of their lives. Curiously life is above all a journey. Beyond the confinement of an imaginary of Edo 江戸 along the Tokaido, the last prophet invites us on a mythical journey of revelation and transformation, an interior journey of meditation and inner peace ...
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 05:54:48 +0000
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