Hiroshige & Eisen: The Sixty-Nine Stations Along the Kisokaido / Die neunundsechzig Sationen des Kisokaido / Les soixante-neuf stations de la route Kissokaido

As with its 100 Famous Views of Edo publication, Taschen has published a lavish collection of another grand Hiroshige series, with photographs of first or early edition prints. In fact the Introduction makes this assertion: “The impressions …are from a private collection which is without doubt the finest set in the world, composed almost entirely of exceptional impressions from the earliest and/or finest editions of each design.” Reason enough to add this volume to the personal library of any Japanese print devotee. Speaking of the Introduction, it’s a worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys knowing how a work of art came to be created.Each of these Taschen Hiroshige editions is a joy to look at, and perfect for the coffee table or as a gift which will dazzle an art lover. Not to mention their revealing look at Japanese life before the country’s later 19th century Westernization.Both come in an outer hard shell with toggle closures, which protects a soft, inner volume bound with traditional thread or cord. While the 100 Famous Views volume is vertical in keeping with the prints within, this one is horizontal, to match prints in its series. At 18” in length however, the Kisokaido volume will not conveniently fit most bookshelves, except lying prone.But so much for practical considerations. Let’s talk about the Kisokaido road, also known as the Nakasendo.The Kisokaido, like the better known Tokaido, was a strategic road which linked the military capital of Edo (now Tokyo) with the imperial capital of Kyoto. While the Tokaido followed the eastern shore before turning inland, the Kisokaido was strictly an overland route.There were three other such roads - five in total - all of which helped the shogun keep Japan’s many domains in check. Revolts were rare but quickly suppressed, in no small part because these roads facilitated deployment of the shogun’s forces over Japan’s difficult terrain.The roads served other purposes as well. In an age devoid of modern communications the government depended on couriers to deliver instructions quickly throughout the domains.And then there was alternate year attendance, designed to insure loyalty by requiring domain lords (daimyos) to make bi-annual visits to Edo. There they would live in high style on land granted them by the shogun. A contented daimyo had better things to do than rebel. But just to be sure, shoguns mandated that daimyos heading back to their home domains leave close family members behind. You could say these people were hostages, but more likely they loved life in the big city.These bi-annual journeys were a big deal, and scarcely possible without good roads to transport the thousands of staff, retainers (samurai), and hangers-on who accompanied their domain lord. But how would such a massive body of travelers be accommodated en route?The shogun saw to all that by doing what Ming-dynasty China did along its own major roads - he ordered “station stops” built. These were similar to rest stops along our modern turnpikes, except that they included inns for overnight accommodations. For exceptionally large groups of travelers - 20,000 wasn’t unheard of - room availability presumably was limited to important members of the daimyo’s retinue.Like Hiroshige’s 53 Stations of the Tokaido series, Kisokaido prints don’t always show the station stops themselves but often focus on striking scenery in the vicinity, along with everyday people and their doings. Both series feature an enormous variety of such scenery.The Kisokaido prints are often listed along with other important Hiroshige series. But it’s worth knowing that initially the design job went to Keisai Eisen, a well known print designer of the period, but who was fast becoming eclipsed by Hiroshige. Eisen began work on the Kisokaido series in 1835. For reasons explained in the Introduction, part way into the work Hiroshige was commissioned to take over, completing the series in 1838. When all was said and done Eisen’s contribution was 24 prints, Hiroshige’s 47, for a total of 71 prints rather than the 69 in the series title. Numerical mismatches like this were quite common in print series, often for marketing reasons which I won’t take space to detail here.This Taschen edition is one of the most beautiful books I own with respect both to its outer appearance and to the glorious prints within.

All the big art books by Taschen are beautiful works of the printer's art. This one especially. It is made like the fine books in Japan, with extensive use of silk or silk like material. It is bound in the Japanese style, and the pages are printed and folded over so each one is doubled. If you're not familiar with this style, you will be happily surprised, and if you are you will be very pleased. This is even before you consider the content. If you are fan of the great Japanese artists, get this book.

This is an awesome book with excellent prints and very instructive and interesting text; it’s extremely well manufactured and an absolute delight to read, feel and just look at. Keep in mind though that you need a big table to really enjoy this ‚little‘ jewel (the photos are a bit misleading and were understandably difficult to take).It came perfectly safe packed in mint condition - thanks to everyone involved!

This book is a jewel. Beautiful, large Hiroshige prints packaged superbly. Really stunning.

Great book with the Taschen quality. Superb.

I bought this volume after reading the similar size Taschen volume on Hokusai's Thirty Six Views of Mt Fuji. As was the case with Hokusai, I do have other books on Hiroshige's work, but this one offers an unmatched visual experience, albeit only of some of his work. That said the size does create some handling issues. It is delicate paperback in essence (the hard cover is more like an outer case). Whilst it is quite practical to open the book flat on a table, making sure that the softcover is handled gently, this is not a book one could comfortably hold open in hand and read. The size and weight simply rule out that option.If one wishes to have the visual experience of large size images of the Hiroshige's landscape format woodblock prints reproduced to a high quality that there is perhaps no alternative to this volumeThis and the Hokusai volume, described as XXL on Taschen website, do create storage issues. I have stacked the two volumes flat, laterally (and also the Taschen "Japan 1900", also an XXL which I also purchased for photographs of a period close to that of the two artists)(I am now contemplating purchase of Taschen's Japanese Woodblock Prints as the next step in my effort to acquire familiarity with the subject, but have yet to decide whether to go for the XXL edition with its large displays or to go with the more manageable and economical 40 edition. The 40 edition I understand is a somewhat abridged version of the XXL one and I have asked Taschen to kindly explain just what has been left out and I await their answer.)Taschen offers excellent images from all its XXL volumes on its website and most if not all seem to be reproduced on Amazon website here.

Having recently started to explore Oriental art I was drawn to this volume and took a chance and purchased it. Having explored its contents for several weeks I have to say that it exceeds my expectations, the reproductions of Hiroshige's are immaculate and the overall presentation is superb. A beautiful volume to add to my library.

A beautiful book, presented in a really lovely format, with generous space for each image. Be warned it is a big beast though!

Beautifully presented in a very traditional style. It’s much bigger than I expected, about A3 size maybe. Very detailed introduction with a lot of historical information and detailed information with each print.Couldn’t be happier with it!

A must-have for Japanese art lovers. Great quality and content