Title : Morning Mist at Mishima (Station #12)

Artist : Utagawa Hiroshige

Date : c. 1833 - 1834

Details : More information...

Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
Browse all 5471 prints...

Description : Numerous garments depicted bear the distinctive small overall patterns of kasuri, sparkling white against an indigo-blue ground. Hiroshige captures the moment of an early morning departure from the town near Mishima Shrine. Against gray silhouettes of houses, trees, and the shrine building and torii gate, travelers starting their day's trip emerge from the morning mist, moving toward the viewer. Palanquin carriers in short indigo-blue jackets take brisk steps, while their passenger, dressed in kimono and haori (a short outer robe) dozes in his seat. A servant wearing a short jacket and leggings balances two bundles on a shoulder pole-a square package and a large indigo-dyed furoshiki. Behind them a groom hunches inside a straw mat to protect himself from the morning chill. The groom leads a packhorse carrying boxes of merchandise, and perched atop them presumably, is their owner. Still before dawn, the rider seems asleep on his horse, nodding under a sedge hat and warmly encased in a large traveling mantle. The indigo-blue mantle shows a typical overall kasuri pattern: small white double crosses known as igeta, or well frame, after the shape of a structure built around a well head. The strongly contrasting dark blue cloth and crisp white patterns add a pleasantly sharp visual emphasis to the otherwise subdued and somber atmosphere. (from “Blue and White” textiles exhibition 8/28/2008-) ***************************** Mishima is located in current Shizuoka Prefecture. The twelfth station on the Tökaidö, it is famous for Mishima Shrine, the entrance of which can be seen on the right. Hiroshige portrays travelers on a horse and in a palanquin carried by porters. Everything else is depicted without outlines in different gradations of blues and grays, in order to convey a sense of the background receding into the mist. The combination of pleasant blue, green and gray colors imbues a tranquil early morning atmosphere to the scene. ("The Tôkaidô Road: Connecting Japan" exhibition Nov/26/2009-Jan/24/2010)

Download Image