Seki: Early Departure from the Daimyos Inn 

Utagawa Hiroshige created this woodblock print titled “Seki: Early Departure from the Daimyo’s Inn” in nineteenth-century Japan, a period of relative peace and economic growth under the Tokugawa shogunate. Hiroshige's image creates meaning through visual codes, cultural references, and historical associations. It depicts a scene from the Tokaido Road, the main route connecting Edo, now Tokyo, with Kyoto. It's part of a larger series that captures the landscape and daily life along this important thoroughfare. The road itself served as a vital artery for trade, communication, and the exercise of political power in Japan. The artwork comments on the social structures of its time. The daimyo, or feudal lords, were required to travel to Edo regularly, and this system helped the shogunate maintain control over them. Hiroshige’s work shows how culture and artistic creation are contingent on institutional context. Researching the history of the Tokaido Road and the political system of the time is essential to understanding such artworks.