Image: Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu
The Mie Prefectural Art Museum says Utagawa Hiroshige’s ‘Yokkaichi, Hienamura Oiwake, Sangu Road’ is the most popular work in its collection for image-publication applications.
The print comes from the Marusei edition of ‘The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō’ and dates to around 1847–51.
Its subject is an ‘okage dog,’ a dog that made an Ise pilgrimage in place of an owner unable to travel because of illness or old age.
In the scene, the dog takes a break in Yokkaichi and receives the local specialty shiratama manju.
