Porters ford the wide Ōi River beneath layered blue peaks

A long file of porters, packhorses, and palanquin-bearers crosses the broad sandy bed of the Ōi River, some wading through the shallow blue channel, others crossing the pale sandbank. Layered mountains — pale grey silhouettes giving way to a closer ridge in deep blue-green with a bare orange rock face — rise beyond the water under a soft peach dawn sky. The vertical cartouche at upper left reads 'Tōkaidō gojūsan-tsugi no uchi, Kanaya' ('Station 24: Kanaya'), with the artist's signature and red seal at right. Part of Hiroshige's Hōeidō Tōkaidō series, the print records the hazardous river crossing travelers faced before reaching the post station.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858) was the last great master of the ukiyo-e landscape print. Born into a family of fire wardens in Edo, he turned to printmaking under Utagawa Toyohiro and found his subject in the roads and seasons of Japan — above all in the Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1833–34) and the One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1856–58). His snow, rain and evening skies, and his bold near-and-far compositions, were studied closely by Van Gogh, Whistler and Monet. His prints are held by the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.