Tokaido

Tokaido hanhaba obi

Published Sunday, May 15th, 2011 | By Diane

A while back I found a Stations of the Tokaido hanhaba obi on eBay that was quite similar to this one, but it was a bit expensive for a hanhaba, in my opinion. I let it slide, but honestly I regretted it after the auction was over.

Fast-forward approximately a year and this little baby shows up on eBay for a starting bid of one penny. Not only was it in a much more affordable price range, it also had much nicer contrast – the stations and reverse are a lovely golden yellow colour. On the first one I’d seen, they were a deeper red than the obi’s base, so they were pretty indistinguishable.

The front side is a lovely brick red with simplified interpretations of the start point of Nihonbashi Bridge, the end point of the Bridge to Kyoto, and Station2 – Kawasaki. The reverse is a nice versatile warm gold asanoha weave design.

Posted in Obi, Tokaido | Tagged asanoha, hanhaba, heisei, red, synthetic, tokaido, yellow | Leave a comment

Art Gallery – Hiroshige’s Stations of the Tokaido

Published Thursday, April 7th, 2011 | By Diane

I often mention my love for the series of prints known as the 53 Stations of the Tokaido, and my passion for collecting kimono items with the stations as a motif. When I saw this adorable box of the Hoeido edition of prints come up for auction, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to buy them. They’re a lovely portable size, just about the size of playing cards, and not only are they very well-printed and well-presented, they make a wonderful quick reference for my collection. The full set is there, all 53 Stations as well as the start and end points. Unfortunately, due to the way they are printed, the scans end up slightly pointillized. In person, however, they are absolutely beautiful. The box is also very charming.

Feel free to click on the thumbnails to view individual pieces or open one and use the arrow keys to navigate through the gallery.

Posted in Art Gallery, Tokaido | Tagged cards, hiroshige, prints, tokaido | Leave a comment

Red Tokaido Nagoya

Published Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 | By Diane

If you’re anything of a regular reader, you’ll know of my fondness for items with the 53 Stations of the Tokaido motif. I also love the colour red. So when I saw this online, I clearly had to go for it!

I like it because it’s simple and vibrant, and also has two stations I did not have yet on obi. I had Nihonbashi on a fan, but I like having them on wearable pieces better. I also find it interesting that the other station, Kanagawa, is from Aritaya, one of the “other” editions of the prints (the standard one used for this sort of thing being the Hoeido edition).