鴫立澤　大磯　小田原迄四里

About this print

Two men sit facing each other on a straw mat spread at the foot of a seaside pine. Behind them are the blue sea and sailboats, with mountains beyond. In front, a rickshaw carrying a passenger under an umbrella crosses a plank bridge, and on the right a traveler in a straw hat bends low. This is how Utagawa Hiroshige III drew Shigitatsusawa in the Oiso post town. It is part of Tokai Meisho Kaisei Dochuki (Famous Places of the Tokaido, Revised Travel Guide), published in 1875 (Meiji 8). The National Diet Library titles it Kaisei Gojusan Eki (The Fifty-three Stations, Revised). "Odawara made yonri" (4 ri to Odawara) in the title is the distance to the next stop, Odawara. One ri is about 3.9 kilometers, so this is a little over 15 kilometers.

The name Shigitatsusawa comes from a poem by the poet Saigyo, from the line "shigi tatsu sawa no aki no yugure" (autumn dusk at a marsh where a snipe takes flight). In 1664 (Kanbun 4) a man named Sosetsu built a thatched hut here, and in 1695 (Genroku 8) the haikai poet Oyodo Michikaze moved in and became its first master (anju). This is Shigitatsuan, counted with Rakushisha in Kyoto and Mumyoan in Shiga as one of Japan's three great haikai halls.

Shigitatsuan still stands in the town of Oiso, about a five-minute walk from JR Oiso Station.

Glossary