Fukuroi 1855

Curator: "Fukuroi" is the name of this captivating woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige, created around 1855. I'm struck immediately by its serene beauty and deceptively simple composition. What are your first impressions? Editor: My eyes keep going to the foreground. All that lovely pale-green water filled with orderly planted rice stalks makes me wonder about the laborers depicted doing this incredibly back-breaking work. Curator: The laborers are certainly a focal point. Consider, however, that this print is part of Hiroshige’s series “Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido," which connects the imperial capital of Kyoto to the shogun’s capital of Edo. So while laborers feature prominently, it functions as a narrative within a larger cultural geography. The kite, for instance, implies leisure even during labor. Editor: Exactly, who got to enjoy that kite? Was that pastime afforded to the workers in those flooded fields or the travelers up on that packed dirt path? Woodblock prints weren’t casually produced or inexpensive, and the dyes would need to be painstakingly layered, which begs the question of the audience. Curator: Certainly. And within this image are many smaller, humanizing allegories. Each traveler, each farmhand in their woven sun hats contributes to the grand allegory of work and leisure along the Tokaido highway. They tell the story of movement across the landscape of Japan, inviting viewers to locate themselves in that movement. Editor: Do you think the landscape informed Hiroshige’s method of production, or did his approach impact our contemporary perceptions of the landscape? It looks like these materials really lent themselves well to depicting that diffused light along the horizon line and the pooling water, like the medium inherently captures a misty day. Curator: Hiroshige's genius lies, in part, in his ability to blend precise detail with subtle atmosphere, conveying not just a location, but also a mood. This interplay speaks volumes about our human connection to the landscapes we inhabit and travel through. Editor: Seeing the human effort involved in the woodblock printing process, and how that resonates with those agricultural workers pictured, that resonates a lot, even today. Curator: Indeed, it speaks to our inherent ability to imbue the physical world with our internal landscape, emotions and collective stories.