Kuwana, the Seven-Ri Ferry

The artwork

Two large sailing boats arrive, rocking on the waves, in front of the walls of Kuwana castle, at the end of the only stretch of the Tōkaidō that was made by sea. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The blue and green of the waves, the white of the sails and the pink of the sky.
• A seascape full of movement, perfect in an entrance hall or a living room.
• A gift for anyone who loves the sea, sailing and Japan.

It belongs to the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, the series that made Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), the best loved landscape artist of Japan, famous, published around 1833-1834 by the publisher Hōeidō. The Tōkaidō was the great road that linked Edo, today's Tokyo, with Kyoto, with fifty-three post stations where travellers stopped.

Between Miya, today part of Nagoya, and Kuwana the road on foot came to an end: you had to cross Ise Bay by boat. The crossing was called the «seven-ri ferry», because it was seven ri long; the ri was the Japanese unit of distance, just under four kilometres, so the crossing was about twenty-seven kilometres. Hiroshige places us beside two boats that have just arrived, with their sails half lowered and the passengers ready to step ashore, while on the right the castle walls seem to rise out of the water. Our reproduction comes from the impression in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

In an entrance hall or a living room it brings the breath of the open sea. A gift for anyone who loves sailing and travel.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with gold fillet, handmade, with glass