Kisokaidô: Urawa - Station 03
Keizai Eisen - Series of the 69 stations of the Kisokaido: Urawa (4th print) - Urawa station, distant view of Mt.Asama (Urawa shuku, Asamayama embo)
(Edition done in 1950's by Kyoto Hanga-in under the supervision of Narazaki Muneshige, the most faithful to the first edition)
Urawa is located at 6 ri 6 cho (24km/18 mi) from Nihonbashi. In this view, the road heads northwest and a plume of smoke rises from Mt.Asama 110km/75 mi away. The last major eruption in 1783 caused widespread devastation and local famine with bodies floating down the river to Edo. The station (1) is in the middle distance on the right. A samurai (2) with a hat and a fan is followed by his servant carrying goods. On the left, a man leads his pack horse while a boy (3) scoops the horse droppings. The horse’s girth is decorated with the “Take” emblem (竹) (4) of the publisher Takenouchi. In the distance over the river, the roofs (5) of the next station Omiya can be seen.
In later impressions, the emblem on the horse’s girth is replaced by the Kinjudo one (林) as can be seen here on the right.
(Source: The 69 stations of the Kisokaido, Sebastian Izzard, Brazillier 2008)
Horse's girth with Kinjudo's emblem
Picture of the Kisokaido road ca.1865-1870 (possibly Urawa??)
(Note the telegraphic pole on the right, indicating that we are still nearTokyo....)
And now ?
Today the three stations of Warabi, Urawa and Omiya are different sections of Saitama city which was created in 2003 by regrouping several towns in a single municipality. The Great Kanto earthquake in September 1923 destroyed most of the area and there is nothing left of Edo period. There is a monument at the location of the former honjin and another one showing where the old wet market was. But the whole area began to grow in 1925 when the reconstruction resumed after the earthquake.
A few old buildings remain such as this old tea shop and you can see an old picture ca.1910 of a similar shop. But really Urawa is now famous for its soccer team the "Urawa Red Diamonds".
Urawa - Monument at the former honjin location
Old mile post between Warabi and Urawa
Urawa - Old tea shop (build ca. 1860?) near the train station
(picture taken in 2010)
Inside a tea shop ca.1910
A samurai and his servant ca.1865-1870