Karuizawa

A large cedar stands at the left foreground, and a bonfire burns at its base. A traveler in a broad hat bends over to light his pipe from the fire, while at right a rider on horseback takes a light from the lantern a packhorse driver holds out. Beyond them lie open fields and the roofs of the town, ringed by trees.

Most of the picture sinks into night tones of gray and ink, so that only the vermilion of the fire and the rising white smoke stand out. Another fire, like a field burning, rises in the distant paddies, and the two plumes of smoke divide the picture vertically. The mountains behind are rendered as black silhouettes.

Karuizawa lay at the western foot of the Usui Pass, a lodging place for travelers who had just crossed it and for those about to take it on. Together with Kutsukake and Oiwake it was counted among the three Asama Nekoshi post towns, known as stations on the highland at the base of Mount Asama.

The series was begun by Keisai Eisen and taken over partway through by Utagawa Hiroshige. This print is Hiroshige's work and follows Sakamoto, the eighteenth design drawn by Eisen. It is regarded as a strongly lyrical piece, combining a night scene with firelight in a way typical of Hiroshige.