Niijuku Ferry

At lower left in the picture is a two-story teahouse, and from the slope in front of it travelers and a horse loaded with cargo descend to the bank. Ferry boats are lined up at the bank, and a boat with a large sail floats mid-river. On the far shore a pine grove and houses continue, and low mountains lie hazy in the distance.

The deep indigo of the river and the green of the bank contrast with a sky red with sunset. The diagonal line of the bank and the straight trunks of the pines give rhythm to the picture.

Niijuku was a post station on the Mito Kaido, entered by crossing the Nakagawa River by ferry. People traveling from Edo to Hitachi and Shimosa came and went, and the teahouse at the landing is thought to have been busy with travelers. The Nakagawa was the river separating Edo from Shimosa, and the ferry is said to have functioned somewhat like a river checkpoint.

The series has several pictures of the Nakagawa, and this one conveys a ferry on the highway at Edo's eastern entrance. The small figures of travelers and horses make it a picture that evokes the daily life of the highway rather than a famous sight.