THE FIFTY-THREE STATIONS OF THE TOKAIDO, "OKITSU" (STATION 18) c. 19th century

Curator: This is Utagawa Hiroshige's woodblock print, "Okitsu," from his series *The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido*. Editor: The stark, almost brutal, contrast between the cool blues of the water and sky and the straining porters immediately catches the eye. Curator: Indeed. Hiroshige offers a view into the social hierarchy of Edo-era Japan. We see the privileged traveler carried, oblivious, across the river by laborers, a visual representation of class disparity. Editor: The material realities of that journey become so apparent here. The labor, the water, the human conveyance...it's all laid bare. Are the porters meant to be anonymous? Curator: Their faces are obscured. They are essentially reduced to instruments of labor, their individual identities erased in service to the wealthy traveler's comfort. This raises questions about the ethics of travel and exploitation. Editor: It makes me consider the physical toll extracted to maintain this system of transport. I now see this landscape as a site of production as much as leisure. Curator: Absolutely. Hiroshige's work invites us to consider the complex interplay of power, class, and the lived experiences of those who facilitated movement and trade along the Tokaido road. Editor: Looking at the work through this lens, I can see the ways in which the material conditions and the representation of labor are interconnected.