Morning View of Nihonbashi

The artwork

At dawn the wooden gates of Nihonbashi Bridge swing open, and a procession with spears and banners sets off on the most famous journey in Japan. You receive it printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• The pink dawn sky, the pale wood of the bridge and the figures in blue, red and brown.
• An image of travel and departure, perfect in an entrance hall or a study.
• A gift for someone setting off, for anyone who loves travelling and for anyone who loves Japan.

It is the first print of the Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, the series that made Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), the best loved landscape artist of Japan, famous, published between 1833 and 1834 by the publisher Hōeidō. The Tōkaidō was the great road that linked Edo, today's Tokyo, with Kyoto, the city of the emperor: almost five hundred kilometres, with fifty-three post stations where travellers ate, slept and changed horses.

The journey begins here, because Nihonbashi, «the bridge of Japan», was the point from which all distances in Edo were counted. Hiroshige places us in front of the gates, just opened: out come the bearers of a lord on his travels, while the fishmongers of the nearby market arrive with their baskets. Our reproduction comes from the impression in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

In an entrance hall it is a good wish for every departure. A gift for anyone who loves travelling.

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