Kisokaidô: Konosu - Station 07
Keizai Eisen - Series of the 69 stations of the Kisokaido: Konosu station (8th print), Konosu, distant view of Mt.Fuji seen from Fukiage (Konosu fukiage Fuji embo)
© Trustees of the British Museum
The snow-capped of Mt.Fuji dominates the winding road. On the left, a white-robed itinerant monk (1) wearing a basket straw hat and a bamboo flute in his sash carries his belongings on his back in a wrapping cloth. Coming towards him is a porter (2) holding his cargo on a pole over his shoulder preparing to have a smoke. Other travelers are making their way along the road. We are mid-way between Konosu and Kumagaya, the next station, with Mt.Haruna (3) and Mt.Akagi (4) visible on the side. Konosu has been destroyed by a fire in 1767 but rebuilt with the financial assistance of the shogunate. By 1818, it was again a major station with 58 inns which catered to the travelers who could leave Edo early morning and arrive here by evening.
Only the first edition is signed (5) and bears the Takenouchi seal (6). Then both disappear. The blue gradation at the foot of Mt.Fuji (which gives it more prominence) is lost, the road and mountains change from brown to green and the clothing of the man on the far right changes from blue to red.
(Source: The 69 stations of the Kisokaido, Sebastian Izzard, Brazillier 2008)
The entrance to Mida temple at Konosu station, beginning 19th century. Note the mile post at the bottom center, indicating Nakasendo Road
Same place as the left picture in 2006. The grey post indicates "Nakasendô"
And now ?
We are at 14ri 19 cho from Nihonbashi (57km/40 mi). Nothing remains from the old station as Konosu was destroyed during the Second World War.
An old print shows the entrance of Mida temple near Konosu. In the center of the print at the bottom, a mile marker with written "Nakasendo" (中山道) on it. It is similar to the one which is standing today in the city center. There is also a monument at the location of the former honjin and an old house with a fire watchtower. Kawase Hasui made a very nice print of Sekiyado, not far from Konosu in the neighboring Chiba prefecture where farms with thatched roofs remind us of the past.
Kawase Hasui - Clearing after a snowfall at Sekiyado (1946)
Stone marker at the location of the former honjn
Old house with firewatch tower platform
Mile post for the Nakasendo road in Konosu
Nishijima Katsuyuki - Series Kisokaido Road - Konosu