JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > THE FEMALE TOUTS OF GOYU

Lot 00557
N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print

Utagawa Hiroshige

THE FEMALE TOUTS OF GOYU

Period: 1841-44
Condition: good
Size: 33 x 22 cm

SOLD

Precious original woodblock print made by the artist Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重). The work, produced between 1841 and 1844 by the publisher Yamadaya Shojiro (山田屋庄次郎) owner of Kinkyodo (錦橋堂), is the second version of the print depicting the Goyu station (御油宿) within the "The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road" (東海道五十三次之内), the famous series also known as Gyosho Tokaido (行書東海道).

Goyu station, in today's Aichi Prefecture (愛知県), was the thirty-fifth of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido and, as we also see in the work presented here, was infamous for the many aggressive female touts who crowded the main street attempting to drag travellers into teahouses and inns for the night.

The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the presence of several restorations on wormholes, is in good general condition, thanks also to an effective relining carried out on the back.

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