2-740-513 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Shimosuwa, from the series Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido, 1835-38. The foreground of this print shows travelers enjoying an evening meal at an inn, with the proprietor looking pleased at the gusto of her guests. In the background, another traveler is gratefully relaxing in a large wooden tub filled with hot natural spring water, having discarded his robe next to the bath. Shimosuwa is the only stop along the Kisokaido—a road running from Nibonbashi in Edo (now Tokyo) to Sanjo Ohashi in Kyoto—with a natural hot spring. The print series was a collaboration between Hiroshige and Keisai Eisen (1791-1848).