FuchÅ«: Tea Picking, the Famous Abe Tea (Chatsumi, meisan Abe cha), cut from sheet 5 of the series Cutouts for the Fifty-three Stations (GojÅ«san tsugi harimaze), also called Cutout Pictures of the Tōkaidō Road (Tōkaidō harimaze zue) c. 20th century

Editor: This print by Utagawa Hiroshige, titled "Fuchū: Tea Picking," shows a woman gathering tea leaves. It's so serene, almost dreamlike with that misty green background. What captures your imagination in this piece? Curator: The beauty of this work, for me, lies in its quiet observation of everyday life, that particular intersection of humanity and landscape. It's so intrinsically Japanese, so very of its time, yet speaks to us now about a timeless connection with nature. Doesn't it make you wonder about the stories held within those tea leaves? Editor: Absolutely. I never thought about it that way, but now I'm eager to learn more. Curator: Exactly! It's a window into the past, and a reflection of ourselves.