Tokaido Kanaya no Fuji (Mount Fuji seen from Kanaya on the Tokaido Road)

Located in present-day Shimada City of Shizuoka Prefecture, Kanaya was the 24th station of Tokaido highway and the easternmost station of Totomi Province during the Edo period. Built on the west bank of the Oi River, which flows from the Akaishi Mountains, Kanaya was a post town full of lodgings for travelers.However, accessing the area was difficult or even perilous due to the prohibition of bridges and ports by the Tokugawa shogunate. Many travelers, as can be seen in the current work, had no choice but to cross the river on the shoulders of bearers who strove to perform the deadly drudgery. Other laborers teamed in dozens to manually transport loads in bulky containers. Unlike other ukiyo-e artists who often depicted Kanaya with a placid river scene, Hokusai’s dramatic approach conveys a sense of tension between the porters and the explosive power of nature.