Kisokaidô: Seba - Station 31

Utagawa Hiroshige - Series of the 69 stations of the Kisokaido: Station Seba (32nd print) (Seba) Takamizawa Publisher

(Takamizawa was a publisher active between 1920 and 1960, famous for its fine carving and the quality of its reproductions)

This print is the most famous in the whole series and arguably one of Hiroshige’s most beautiful landscapes. A boatman poling his craft (1) loaded with wood and behind, another one pushes a raft of timbers (2). Both wear typical green or indigo-dyed cottons of peasants and conical straw hat or blue headcloth. We are in the swamp formed by the Narai river as it meanders towards Suwa-ko lake. Behind the willow trees, the thatched roofs (3) of the station can be seen. The full moon gives a magical light quality to the scene.

The name of Seba, literally “washing horse” refers to Kiso Yoshinaka (1154-1184), a warrior of the Minamoto clan born in Miyanoskoshi who stopped here while recruiting troops for the war against the Taira clan at the end of the 12th century. The Heike Monogatari ou Tale of Heike, masterpiece of Japanese literature tells us about the Civil Wars between the two clans of Taira and Minamoto.

There are several variant color schemes and each one changes the mood. In the earliest impressions, the boatmen are dressed in blue. This state is distinguish by a particularly sharp printing in the seals and in the parallel lines of the cloud formations in the sky. The central cloud pattern is printed in a pale gray. Lightly applied bokashi gradation extends around the moon, from the bottom of the design and from the bank of the river. The effect is of the moonlight reflected on the surface of the water. Black bokashi gradation at the top heralds the dark of night. A second printing (like the one above) retains most of the first state but changes the color of the robes of the boatmen to green. The third state sees the boatmen dressed in brown robes with the headcloth becoming pale blue. The gradation on the river is not so well rendered, the seals printing is not very clear and the cloud pattern in the center is dark blue. In the last impressions, the printing is much coarser, the boatmen returns to dark blue clothing, the line of trees on the horizon disappears and the subtlety of the bokashi gradations is lost.

(Source: The 69 stations of the Kisokaido, Sebastian Izzard, Brazillier 2008)

At Seba in 1880

Seba bridge ca. 1885

Ono village near Seba in 1880

And now ?

Seba is now located in the centre of modern-day Shiojiri, at 235km/147mi from Edo. A fire destroyed most of the station at the end of 19^th century and there is nothing left of the old station, but a couple of temples. In 1843, there were 700 inhabitants in 163 households, with one honjin, one waki-honjin and 29 inns. The houses are lining both sides of the road with their large overhang, well rendered by Nishijima Katsuyuki in his print.

The wars between the Minamoto and Taira clans took place between 1180 and 1185. These are named the Genpei wars, Genpei comes from the Chinese reading of the first characters of each family name (Gen = Mina (moto), Hei or Pei = Tai (ra)). The Chinese reading of Taira is Heike, hence the title of the Tales of the Heike, that tells of the famous battles and the ultimate destruction of the clan. The Taira clan was enjoying the power in Kyoto on behalf of the Emperor and had placed a child on the throne. One of the imperial family member forged an alliance with the Minamoto and Buddhist warrior monks to reclaim the throne. After initial victories, the Minamoto took the imperial capital in 1183. But internal rivalries and strife let the Taira regroup their forces and a series of new battles occurred until their final defeat at the naval battle of Dan-no-Ura in 1185. The Minamoto became Shogun with full executive powers and established their capital at Kamakura, 50km/30 m south of Edo (Tokyo). The Kamakura period lasted until 1333. All Japanese know this famous story, with their heroes, now household names and source of countless novels, films, legends, sayings, illustrations and prints.