Permanent Exhibition Gallery

Work Art in Focus 東海道五十三次Tokaido no Gojyusan-tsugi The “Stations of the Tokaido” series of prints acquired by Calouste Gulbenkian is part of a set of about 200 Japanese woodblock prints from the 18th and 19th centuries which is usually kept in storage due to conservation reasons. Signed by three great masters – Hiroshige (1797-1858), Kunisada (1786-1865) and Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) -, the 55 prints, published circa 1845 by different publishers, depict legends and tales related to the stations of the Tokaido.  The Tokaido (Eastern Sea Road) was feudal Japanfs main land route. It ran for about 500 km between the old imperial capital, Kyoto, and the then-capital – Edo (Tokyo), military capital of the Tokugawa. The 53 stations (excluding the first and the last ones), situated along the way, sheltered not only the delegations of feudal lords but also all kinds of travellers, merchants, pilgrims and peasants. To travel through this sought after road was an adventure, due to its surprises, risks and difficulties, and also to the unfavourable weather conditions that ravaged the region, especially during the winter.  The Tokaido road would probably have sunk into oblivion had it not been immortalized by the greatest masters of Japanese printmaking.  The complete, sequenced presentation of this famous series must be carried out rotatively due to conservation reasons although the public will be able to view the missing prints in a interactive multimedia presentation. Therefore, every month each set of 18 prints will be replaced by a new one until the end of the exhibition. The first print, the Nihonbashi station, marks the starting point at the Nihon bridge in Edo (Tokyo) and the last one, the 55th, the Kyoto station, in the city’s bridge.