{"product_id":"hiroshige-eisen-by-rhiannon-paget-9783754403136","title":"Hiroshige \u0026 Eisen","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Kisokaido route through Japan was ordained in the early 1600s by the country's then-ruler Tokugawa Ieyasu, who decreed that staging posts be installed along the length of the arduous passage between Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Kyoto. Inns, shops, and restaurants were established to provide sustenance and lodging to weary travellers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn 1835, renowned woodblock print artist Keisai Eisen was commissioned to create a series of works to chart the Kisokaido journey. After producing 24 prints, Eisen was replaced by Utagawa Hiroshige, who completed the series of 70 prints in 1838.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBoth Eisen and Hiroshige were master print practitioners. In \u003cem\u003eThe Sixty-Nine Stations along the Kisokaido\u003c\/em\u003e, we find the artists' distinct styles as much as their shared expertise. From the busy starting post of Nihonbashi to the castle town of Iwamurata, Eisen opts for a more muted palette but excels in figuration, particularly of glamorous women, and relishes snapshots of activity along the route, from shoeing a horse to winnowing rice. Hiroshige demonstrates his mastery of landscape with grandiose and evocative scenes, whether it's the peaceful banks of the Ota River, the forbidding Wada Pass, or a moonlit ascent between Yawata and Mochizuki.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTaken as a whole, \u003cem\u003eThe Sixty-Nine Stations\u003c\/em\u003e collection represents not only a masterpiece of woodblock practice, including bold compositions and an experimental use of colour, but also a charming tapestry of 19th-century Japan, long before the spectre of industrialisation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis TASCHEN edition revives the series with due scale and splendour. Sourced from the only-known set of a near-complete run of the first edition of the series, this legendary publication is reproduced in the finest quality, bound in the Japanese tradition and with uncut paper. A perfect companion piece to TASCHEN's \u003cem\u003eOne Hundred Famous Views of Edo\u003c\/em\u003e, it is at once a visual delight and a major artefact from the bygone era of Imperial Japan.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Thames and Hudson (Australia) Pty Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47536651567340,"sku":"9783754403136","price":145.0,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9783754403136-hiroshige-eisen.jpg?v=1776385499","url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/products\/hiroshige-eisen-by-rhiannon-paget-9783754403136","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}