Hiroshige 53 Stations of the Tokaido Aritaya

The Aritaya Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road, Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi, 東海道五十三次之内, is one of the most beautiful of Hiroshige's huge production of landscape print series in spite of its small size. It is only abt 10 x 15 cm (with variations), Yotsugiri yokoban (quarter ōban). It is also unusual in that it is a veritable full course and manual in landscape print design. It is a very rewarding study. All the way through Hiroshige follows certain design principles of proportion of elements, arranging elements and views by diagonals and parallels and balancing of color elements. Compared to most of his other Tōkaidō series Hiroshige in Aritaya focus on letting the landscape tell the story instead of letting people or legend do that, although this is not followed through completely.