Tokaido Road recreates the work of the Master Japanese printmaker Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) and his suite of prints ’53 Stations of the Tokaido’ (Hōeidō edition 1833-34), illustrating resting stops along this famous pilgrimage route from Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto, in the Edo period. In 2013 Allchurch was invited by the Shizuoka Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art to create two new works for the museum’s permanent collection inspired by the Tokaido Road today.
Tokaido Road: Yui (after Hiroshige) captures the same majesty of Mount Fuji and the Suruga Bay from the perilous Satta Pass in Hiroshige’s original print, but with the addition of the expressway, structural reinforcement of the mountain pass and heavy industry found in the area today. Tokaido Road: Mariko (after Hiroshige) revisits the famous Tororojiru (yam soup) restaurant located on the Old Tokaido Road in Mariko (Shizuoka Prefecture), where it has been serving travellers with this local specialty for centuries.