Nawate Road at Hiratsuka

A nawate road is a path that runs straight through fields, like a raised footpath between paddies. In this print the path is bent into a dogleg shape from the foreground to the back, giving depth to the flat countryside.

At the center of the picture, Mount Koma sits solidly like an overturned bowl. Just behind it a small white Mount Fuji shows its face, and the ridge of another mountain overlaps on the right. The difference between the round mountain and the triangular Fuji adds variety to the picture.

In the foreground of the road, a bare-chested fast courier runs carrying a letter box, and as if passing him, palanquin bearers head back with an empty palanquin. The slender stake standing at right is a boji-gui, which marked the boundary of a post station. The top edge of the sky is shaded red.

Mount Koma is a mountain seen from the western edge of Hiratsuka-juku, rising between it and the next station, Oiso. The combination of a round mountain set alone in flat fields and Fuji peeking out in the distance is a view unique to this stretch. The shadows of the stakes and pines by the road grow smaller in regular steps from front to back, conveying the perspective of the flat land.