Hakone: Traveling with Pine Torches in the Night - Utagawa Hiroshige

A nocturnal scene from Utagawa Hiroshige's Reisho Tokaido series, depicting travellers navigating the steep mountain pass of Hakone by torchlight.

This woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige depicts a nocturnal scene at Hakone, the eleventh station along the Tokaido road. It belongs to the Reisho Tokaido series, a collection produced later in the artist's career. The composition captures a group of travellers navigating a steep mountain path by the light of pine torches. The dark, atmospheric sky contrasts with the warm, flickering glow of the torches, which illuminate the figures and the rugged terrain.

Hiroshige employs a distinct visual language to convey the difficulty of the journey. The figures are shown in motion, carrying a palanquin and heavy loads, their bodies angled against the incline of the path. The gnarled pine trees frame the scene, their branches reaching across the composition to create a sense of depth and enclosure. The use of colour is restrained, relying on deep blues, earthy browns, and muted greens to establish the mood of a late-night trek through the mountains.

The Reisho Tokaido series is noted for its formal, calligraphic style, which differs from the more spontaneous approach seen in Hiroshige's earlier, more famous Hoeido Tokaido series. The title cartouche, written in the Reisho (clerical) script, gives the series its common name. This print demonstrates the artist's ability to render light and shadow within the technical constraints of the woodblock medium. The smoke from the torches rises in thin, delicate lines, adding a sense of movement to the otherwise still, dark air. The print serves as a record of the physical challenges faced by travellers on the Tokaido, the primary route connecting Edo and Kyoto during the Edo period.