東海道　荒井

About this print

This nishiki-e (multicolored woodblock print) shows Arai in Kosai, Shizuoka Prefecture. In the Edo period, the name Arai was also written with other characters, as in this print's title. It appears to be one sheet from a series (soroimono) in which 16 artists each took different places along the Tokaido, made to coincide with Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi's trip to Kyoto in 1863 (Bunkyu 3). The artist is given as "Toyokuni," thought to be Utagawa Toyokuni III.

Arai was the 31st post station (shukuba) on the Tokaido, counting from Nihonbashi in Edo. It was linked to Maisaka, the post station across the mouth of Lake Hamana, by boat on the Imagire Ferry, and it was home to the Arai Checkpoint (sekisho), where travelers were inspected.

The checkpoint was set up in 1600. It was moved twice because of a storm and an earthquake and tsunami before settling at its present site. The current buildings were rebuilt by 1858, after the great earthquake of 1854, and as the only checkpoint buildings left anywhere in Japan, they are designated a Special Historic Site.

Glossary