Mishima High Road in Kai Province c. 1834 - 1837

Editor: This woodblock print, "Mishima High Road in Kai Province" by Hokumyō, likely dating from the 1830s, strikes me as particularly intimate, despite its landscape subject. What’s your take on this piece? Curator: It’s interesting that you pick up on intimacy. Ukiyo-e prints like this, while depicting landscapes, were also deeply embedded in the social fabric of their time. These landscapes weren’t just picturesque scenes; they were representations of travel routes newly accessible to a rising merchant class, challenging older feudal hierarchies. Do you notice how the travelers are depicted in relation to Mount Fuji? Editor: I see small figures beneath a large tree, with Mount Fuji in the distance. So it's about class and access? Curator: Precisely. Think about it – the accessibility of travel for different social strata was changing rapidly. The landscape itself, with Mount Fuji as a constant, becomes a symbol, a backdrop against which these societal shifts played out. Hokumyō’s work, in this context, offers commentary on both the romantic ideal of nature and the democratization of experience. Editor: So the “intimacy” I sensed isn’t just about a feeling, but reflects those personal experiences suddenly available to more people? Curator: Exactly. And considering that these prints were mass-produced, consider how that in itself revolutionized access to art. It democratized image consumption as the Japanese society itself was rapidly changing, wouldn't you say? Editor: I never thought about it that way – the print *itself* is part of that democratization! I appreciate learning to look at this not just as a landscape, but a cultural artifact. Curator: That is right. Seeing the interconnectedness – of art, history and social movements – enriches our experience of the world.