Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)
View of Kameyama (Kameyama no zu: 亀山ノ図) from the chuban series Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō Road (Tōkaidō gojūsan tsugi no uchi: 東海道五十三次之内)
ca 1838
Signed: Kōchōrō Kunisada ga (香蝶楼国貞画)
Publisher: Sanoya Kihei
Censor's seal: kiwame
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Honolulu Museum of Art
National Diet Library
Spencer Museum of Art
Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art - they date their copy to 1836
Bryn Mawr
Honolulu Museum of Art
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, the University of California This is number 47 in the series. The curatorial files at the Museum für angewandte Kunst in Vienna say: "The picture of the Kameyama 亀 山 station in the background was conceived by Kunisada himself and shows three men eating and drinking sake in an inn (man on the right with sake bowl = sakazuki). The man on the left is enjoying the beautiful view and the view of Kameyama Castle. In the foreground a woman with a snare drum (tsuzumi 鼓) in her hand. Her blue kimono is decorated with flowers and her red obi 帯 with birds. The coat of arms (mon) that can be seen on the sleeves and shoulders also shows two stylized birds."
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If you click on this image you will notice the shachi (鯱) rooftop decorations on the castle in the center background. The shachi is a "mythical carp with the head of a lion and the body of a fish" which is an auspicious symbol of protection and well-being.
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Kunisada did not use Hiroshige's print of Kameyama as a template. In fact, the prints are completely different. The Hiroshige is a snow-bound scene.
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The castle of Kameyama no longer exists, but as of 1969 one could still see the remains of the steep walls that supported it.
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There is another copy of this print in the Worcester Art Museum.
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Illustrated in a small color reproduction in Kunisada's Tokaido: Riddles in Japanese Woodblock Prints by Andreas Marks, Hotei Publishing, 2013, page 74, T24-47.
Sanoya Kihei (佐野屋喜兵衛) (publisher)
landscape prints (fūkeiga 風景画) (genre)