tour 8 of 19
Views of Mount Fuji
Torii Kiyonaga, Travellers at Enoshima, a triptych of colour woodblock prints
This view of Mt Fuji is across Sagami Bay from
Katase Beach. A collection of elegantly dressed pilgrim-travellers
from the city wait at a tea-stall for low tide, when they will be
able to cross the causeway to the sacred island of
Enoshima.
Kiyonaga shows
each of the figures reacting to the exertions of travel in a
natural, understated manner: a hat is removed, a breast fanned,
perspiration wiped, a pipe smoked and a sandal re-tied. The
scantily clad boy from a fishing village draws the attention of the
travellers to some attraction outside the frame. Down by the
shoreline more tourists watch boys swimming and look across towards
the shrine gate and bustling hostelries on the island
itself.
Mt Fuji, much more
prominent than in reality, is shown framed by the reed blinds of
the tea-stall. It may act here as a symbol of the freedom of
travel, away from the closely constrained city life of populous Edo
(modern Tokyo).