Satta Pass at Yui

At the edge of the cliff in the upper left of the picture, two travelers hold onto a rock and peer down. Beyond their gaze spread the blue of Suruga Bay and the snow-capped white Mount Fuji. The contrast between the harshness of the pass road and the open view is the highlight of this print.

The rock jutting from the cliff and the pine stretching with a twisting trunk are arranged to echo the ridgeline of Fuji. On the sea, ships with white square sails line up, adding rhythm to the calm water.

Satta Pass lay between Yui and Okitsu, a difficult place where mountains press against the sea. The road along the water's edge before the pass was dangerous, and it is said that travelers were sometimes swept away by waves. From the road on the cliff, one could take in Fuji and the sea at a glance.

The title is written Yui with an older character form, but the present place name is written differently. Yui-juku was the 16th post station from Edo, and at the site of its honjin stands the Shizuoka City Tokaido Hiroshige Museum of Art, named for Hiroshige. The color scheme, with the dark color of the cliff, the bright blue of the sea, and the white of Fuji clearly separated, also holds the picture together. The distant mountains are pale brown, making the whiteness of Fuji stand out even more.