不二の沼　原　吉原迄三り六丁

About this print

A huge blue and white Mount Fuji fills the top half of the picture. Green fields spread at its foot, and on the marsh below, two small boats sit among clumps of reeds. In the boats, one person works a pole and another seems to be fishing. Two travelers stand on the near bank, with a pine tree and a small red shrine (hokora). Utagawa Hiroshige III drew Mount Fuji and the marshland that spread north of the Hara post town. It is one print from 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).

The Hara post town was in what is now the city of Numazu. The area was a wetland called Ukishimagahara, and its scattered marshes were known together as Ukishima Marsh. It was known for its pine groves and for views of Mount Fuji from everywhere. Because the ground is soft, the Tokaido Shinkansen and the Tomei Expressway were later built along the foot of Mount Ashitaka, avoiding Ukishima Marsh.

Glossary