No. 53. Kusatsu: one of the fifty-three noted places on Tokaido, painted by Hiroshige 1906

Curator: Looking at this woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige, titled "No. 53. Kusatsu: one of the fifty-three noted places on Tokaido", which the Rijksmuseum dates around 1906, what stands out to you immediately? Editor: The laborers. There’s such starkness in how Hiroshige depicts them, almost highlighting their muscular strain. It provokes thoughts on the politics inherent in their bodies. Are we meant to see the beauty in that labor or simply the toil? Curator: That tension between the picturesque and the raw labor is central. These ukiyo-e prints, while often seen as purely aesthetic, are products of a complex material and social web. Consider the wood itself, the paper, the pigments—each with its own production history and supply chains that connect this image to wider networks of craft and commerce. Editor: Exactly! This piece, even depicting a common scene from the Tokaido road, begs us to analyze the distribution of power at that moment in society. We are made witness to the intersection of class, labor and movement. Look at how the building in the background looms— what can we tell about the distribution of services for weary travelers? How does one get inside? Are the same people moving us, allowed inside, beyond the porch, within the structures of leisure? Curator: Absolutely, and even the technique—the woodblock printing process itself— involved numerous artisans, each contributing their specialized labor to create the final print. Thinking of it, what might the consumption of art prints like this do? It served the merchant class who wished to experience or consume views of natural vistas that reminded them of pilgrimage. Editor: Pilgrimages for what, though? We should delve deeper than pure recreation or religion. Kusatsu, historically, was a place of healing through its thermal springs. So we must understand the travelers’ embodied experiences alongside those of the palanquin bearers, both vital aspects to read in this image, right? Are we looking at labor due to the wellness journeys of others? Are these wellness rituals only for the wealthy who cannot labor for themselves? Curator: These points highlight such integral issues about art, production and labor. We are led back to reflecting on the circulation and the conditions of labor in society from the point of view of those who are absent in plain sight, made invisible in a beautiful image that obscures. Editor: Precisely, revealing how even seemingly benign scenes can expose societal structures. A potent piece to reflect on labor, tourism, class and consumption from long ago and the reflections for today.