Mitake

At the thatched inn at right stands a shoji screen inscribed "kichin-yado," and inside travelers chat around a pot over the hearth. A woman carrying buckets stands under the eaves, and at the riverside at lower left a woman sets down a pot and does her washing. On the road in the back a person carrying brushwood can be seen.

The composition, which shows the interior of the inn large and draws people's gestures in detail, puts more weight on the look of daily life than on landscape. The indigo of the background and the pale color of the distant mountains set off the warm atmosphere of the inn. Details of life at the inn come across fully.

Mitake was a post town in Mino, in today's Mitake. A kichin-yado was a cheap inn where self-catering was the norm, and it is said to have gotten the name because guests paid for firewood to stay. One honjin and one waki-honjin were placed in the post town, and it is said to have also had the character of a temple town.

This is by Hiroshige. With even the characters on the shoji drawn in, this print is a favorite in the series as one conveying the commoners' journey along the highway. In choosing a budget lodging over a proper inn, one can see Hiroshige's gaze toward the ordinary traveler.