Utagawa Kuniyoshi: The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido

This stunning collection of colorful ukiyo-e prints exhibits Kuniyoshi's artistic mastery and clever sense of humor. Each work incorporates three elements: the main picture, an inset landscape depicting the particular station, and a title block. Using parody and pun (both for humor and to avoid government censorship), Kuniyoshi associated each point on the route with one of the most beloved stories of his day--from a reimagined Odyssey to the Japanese fairy tale of Urashima to popular kabuki scenes with courtesans and other "floating world" characters. He made that story the subject of the main picture and put clues to its identity in the title block. Kuniyoshi delighted in these hidden messages and used every inch of the paper to tell his story.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi: The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō celebrates the beauty, charm, and ingenuity of Kuniyoshi's work with more than seventy-five full-color illustrations, including reproductions of all the prints in the treasured series. Sarah E. Thompson provides an introductory essay on the history of ukiyo-e and a description of each print.