Kisokaidô: Ashida - Station 26
Utagawa Hiroshige - Series of the 69 stations of the Kisokaido: Station Ashida (27th print) (Ashida)
© Trustees of the British Museum
Just past the station of Ashida, the road enters a mountainous area with steep inclines. Here Hiroshige exaggerated this effect with his distant view of the Kasadori pass making the composition more dynamic. He also replaced the pine trees originally planted by the Komoro clan by Japanese cedars giving a different feel to the mountain landscape. Two rest stops are visible, one (1) near the brow of the slope, the other one (2) at the base of the valley. There is a lot of traffic on the road with travelers in closed (3) or open (4) palanquin. Mt.Tateshina in the background is rendered in an almost abstract way.
The green gradation on the road and the blue one in the sky decrease and then are lost as the printing progressed. The seal beneath the signature disappears as well.
(Source: The 69 stations of the Kisokaido, Sebastian Izzard, Brazillier 2008)
Ashida: The lantern at the station entrance
Main door of the honjin (1800)
The road lined with pines trees at the village exit
And now ?
Ashida was a small station founded in 1601, but which never grew bigger. There were 80 houses with one honjin, two waki-honjin and six inns in 1843. The village grew ginseng and did produce some silk. We are at 181km/110 mi from Nihonbashi, nearing Kasatori pass. A large lantern marks the entrance of the village. Ashida station also has the oldest remaining honjin with a gate dating 1800. After the station, the road ascends towards Kasatori pass through lines of pine trees. But the restaurant at the pass is a modern building. After the pass, the old road towards Nagakubo the next station is just a path through the forest....
Ashida: Gate of the former honjin
Kasatori Pass with the restaurant in the back
Nakasendo road on the way down from the pass towards Nagakubo