Senju in Musashi Province

The posts lined up at the right of the picture are the frame of a sluice gate built to keep river water from flowing back into an irrigation channel. Katsushika Hokusai arranged these posts at regular intervals and placed Fuji between them. In the foreground are a horse with a net basket called a dazuke-mokko, used to carry grass and soil, on its back, and a man leading it by the reins. On the bank at left, two people in broad hats dangle fishing lines.

The back of the horse, its head lowered, curves like a mountain, drawn to echo the shape of Fuji in the distance. The horse driver and the angler both put a hand to their hats and look up at Fuji, conveying the slow time of the countryside. The white mane and tail of the horse are drawn hair by hair in fine lines.

Senju was the first post station on the Nikko and Oshu Kaido and one of the Four Stations of Edo. This print, however, depicts not the bustle of the station but the countryside a little way off. The Adachi City Local Museum sees it as the sluice called Motojuku-iri, which stood along Bokutei-dori. The Yamanashi Prefectural Museum, on the other hand, offers the view that it is near Sumida Village, facing the Ayase River. Senju-juku later expanded to include Kamonjuku and towns on the south bank of the Sumida River.