Tarui

From the end of the pine-lined road ahead, a line of people in straw rain capes and hats approaches. In the middle you can see a samurai holding an umbrella. There are teahouses on both sides in the foreground, and the people in front of them bow toward the procession or crouch down in deference. Rain falls white on the ground.

The composition is nearly symmetrical, with teahouses framing the picture on both sides and a road running through the center into the distance. The reddish-brown trunks and green needles of the tall pines and the blue of the teahouses are seen through fine lines of rain. The dark stone wall in the background deepens the road along which the procession advances.

Tarui-juku was a post town in Fuwa District, Mino Province, and the junction where the Mino Road leading to Miya-juku on the Tokaido branched off. The name comes from a spring within the town, and the town stood in front of Nangu Taisha. Pine trees continue along the west of the town, and the picture is thought to show that area.

This is a design by Hiroshige. The rain scene ranks with the famous "Nakatsugawa in the Rain" as one of the weather effects Hiroshige displayed in this series. The figures at the teahouses welcoming the procession convey a moment of everyday life in a post town along the highway.