Image: Ōta Memorial Museum of Art, Tokyo
The Nakasendo Hiroshige Museum of Art in Ena, Gifu Prefecture, is presenting ‘25th Anniversary Exhibition: Keisai Eisen and Utagawa Hiroshige — The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō’ from 27 August through 27 September 2026. The exhibition brings together 71 prints from the museum’s Tanaka Collection, following the series from its opening station, Nihonbashi, to Ōtsu, and reorganizes the works according to their period of production rather than the order of the stations.
Produced and published around 1835–38, ‘The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō’ was not made as a straightforward sequence by a single artist. Keisai Eisen began the project and produced 24 designs before Utagawa Hiroshige took over, completing 47 designs, including a variant of ‘Nakatsugawa’. The museum describes the resulting series as a collaboration and uses the exhibition to examine the complicated circumstances of its publication.
The presentation is divided into three production phases. The Eisen period, dated approximately 1835–36, comprises 24 prints. Hiroshige’s early period, dated approximately 1836–37, includes 26 prints, while the later period, dated approximately 1837–38, includes 21 prints, counting the variant. This arrangement allows visitors to follow the transition from Eisen’s contribution to Hiroshige’s completion of the series and to consider changes in its making over time.
The museum’s account notes that previous research has suggested Hiroshige may have temporarily interrupted production around 1837 and may have travelled along the Nakasendō. The exhibition presents this possibility within a broader account of the series’ production history, alongside selected works from the Tanaka Collection. Examples identified by the museum include Eisen’s ‘Kisokaidō: Itabashi Station’ and ‘Kisokaidō Station: View of Lake Suwa from the Shiojiri Pass’, as well as Hiroshige’s ‘The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō: Miyanokoshi’ and ‘The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō: Ōi’.
The Nakasendo Hiroshige Museum opened in September 2001 to house and exhibit more than 500 ukiyo-e works donated to Ena by local businessperson Haruo Tanaka (1919–2012). Its collection is organized around two principal themes, Utagawa Hiroshige and the Nakasendō, with ‘The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō’ at its center. The anniversary exhibition also introduces seven ukiyo-e works newly acquired in fiscal 2025, including Hiroshige’s ‘Owl on a Pine Tree under the Moon’, Hiroshige’s ‘Famous Places in the Eastern Capital: First Cuckoo at Tsukudajima’, and Katsushika Hokusai’s ‘A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces: Amida Falls in the Far Reaches of the Kiso Road’.
Related programming includes a curator-led guide on 6 September, a quiz about figures appearing in the displayed prints, and explanations by museum volunteers. On 21 September, the museum’s anniversary day, admission will be free, with a limited-edition ‘Semba’ bookmark offered to visitors while supplies last. The exhibition is installed in Galleries 1 and 2 and is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last admission at 4:30 p.m.
