第五　木曽街道大宮宿富士遠景

About this print

This woodblock print shows the area around Omiya in Saitama City, Saitama. It is one sheet from Kisokaido Rokujukyu Tsugi (The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido), a series depicting the post towns of the Nakasendo road, and as its title says, it shows a view with Mount Fuji in the distance. The artist is Keisai Eisen, and the publisher is Hoeido. The series began to appear around 1835.

Omiya was the fourth post town counting from Nihonbashi in Edo. The name Omiya, "great shrine," is said to come from Hikawa Shrine, the ichinomiya (highest-ranking shrine) of Musashi Province, which people revered as a great shrine. In 1628 the route of the Nakasendo was moved, and a post town was laid out along what is now the old Nakasendo.

Almost none of the post town's buildings survive today. However, the Hikawa Sando, the approach that runs about 2 kilometers from the first torii gate to Hikawa Shrine, is said to have been the Nakasendo before the present road was built, and it keeps something of old Omiya.

Glossary