Otai

A blue stream winds through the field in the foreground, with pampas grass and other plants thick on both banks. At left, three travelers in broad hats walk together, and at right a figure who seems to be a pilgrim, holding a banner and carrying a pack, moves ahead. In the center a single slender tree spreads its reddened leaves.

The sky and distance are handled in gray and ink gradations, with the black shadow of mountains lying across the horizon. The grass, which fills most of the picture, is drawn in fine lines, and the blue of the stream and the vermilion of the autumn leaves catch the eye in a restrained palette. The figures are scattered, giving the feel of a journey in which each person walks the wide field at his own pace.

Otai was a post town between Oiwake and Iwamurada, located on the highland that spreads south of Mount Asama. When daimyo used the Oiwake route, princesses and women attendants are said to have often stayed at this post town, and it was also called the "Princesses' Post Town."

This is a design by Utagawa Hiroshige. Rather than the row of houses in the town, it depicts the scenery of the fields outside it, choosing a quiet moment on the road that differs from the bustle one might imagine from the name of the post town. The mountain in the background may represent Mount Asama.