No. 43 c. 1835 - 1838

"No. 43" is a woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige, a leading artist of the ukiyo-e style in Japan, and is currently located in the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The image is from "The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido," one of Hiroshige’s series of landscape prints. During the Edo period, the Kisokaido was a route connecting Edo, present-day Tokyo, with Kyoto. The print captures daily life along the road, and the figures include travelers from varied social classes—merchants, samurai, and peasants. Notice how Hiroshige carefully depicts not just the landscape but also the human element. The figures are small, yet they convey a sense of journey and purpose. They traverse the landscape, which at first glance might seem a picturesque backdrop, but consider the labor required to travel the road. What do you think about how the artwork invites us to reflect on movement, labor, and the complex interplay between people and place?