TOKAIDO^ GOJU^SAN-TSUGI EMAKI

1919. [SKETCHTOUR GENRE] Otani Sonyu & Iguchi Kashu, artists. TOKAIDO GOJUSAN-TSUGI EMAKI Kyoto Taisho 11 [1922]. Eight handscrolls with woodcut coloring over collotype, complete. The scrolls have bone jiku with brocade covers and sumi over gold title labels. SCROLL ONE. Congratulatory inscriptions by Otani Kozui (then Abbot of Nishi Hoganji and Sonyu's older brother), Tomioka Tessai, dated 8th month of Taisho 8, "at the age of 88" and Zen artist Hashimoto Dokuzan, dated September 22, Taisho 8. The pictures of the stations of the old Tokaido alternate between Sonyu and Kashu. Most station names are well known, but there are alternate local names, and in some cases other place names are itemized parenthetically. Station One: Nihonbashi by Sonyu. A night scene, with department stores, pedestrians, streetcars and, prominently, a black motor car. Station Two: Shinagawa by Kashu.An early morning panorama, lights on in village houses, fishing boats still moored, a steam dredge, distant steamships. Station Three: Kawasaki by Sonyu. Tourists and locals stroll along the shop-lined country road. Station Four: Kanagawa by Kashu. In the foreground, loading docks and warehouses. On the distant shore, factories, a quiet village. A passengerliner and freighters of all descriptions and sizes crowd the harbor. Station Five: Hodogaya by Sonyu. A birdseye view of the hills and farm fields in the distance, a quite village of thatched-roof dwellings. Station Six: Totsuka by Kashu. A village flanking the Tokaido, a farmer walking a cow and calf. Station Seven: Fujisawa by Sonyu. Beneath a crescent moon, a man with a lantern walks away from a dark temple. Station Eight: Hiratsuka by Kashu. Birdseye view of a long wooden bridge over the Sagami River in late summer rain. SCROLL TWO: Station Nine: Oiso by Sonyu. The Izu peninsula across the bay, coastal pines and inns for tourists in the foreground, a woman with a parasol enjoting the view.