Naito Shinjuku at Yotsuya

The right half of the picture is occupied by the horse's large rump and hind legs. Straw horseshoes are wrapped on the legs, and horse droppings lie on the ground. Between the legs and on the left, the road of the post town continues into the distance, lined on both sides with inns and teahouses, where travelers and packhorse drivers come and go.

The brown of the horse, the greenish gray of the road, the indigo of the sky, and the red of sunset create strong contrast. Even among compositions that draw an object in the foreground extremely large, it is an especially bold and humorous one.

Naito Shinjuku was opened in the Genroku era as the first post station on the Koshu Kaido, and takes its name from having been placed on part of the residence grounds of the Naito family of the Takato domain in Shinano. Many packhorses came and went, and the town also flourished as a place of entertainment. Horses laden with firewood, charcoal, and vegetables went to Edo along the Koshu Kaido.

It is one of the best-known pictures in the series, and its daring viewpoint making a horse's rump the protagonist is often introduced. "Blossoms on the Tama River Embankment" in the spring section also depicts the same Naito Shinjuku, showing two faces of the place: a famous cherry-blossom site and the daily life of a post town.