Description
Funny polychrome woodblock print of horizontal yotsugiri (四つ切り) format, made in 1853 by the artist Utagawa Yoshikazu (歌川芳員) and depicting a traveler who, under a downpour near the Odawara station (小田原), runs into a kappa (河童), a legendary creature with a turtle-like appearance, one of the most famous yokai (妖怪) in Japanese folklore.
The work, produced by the publisher Tsutaya Umejiro (蔦屋梅次郎), is taken from the “Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido” (東海道五十三次内), a very distinctive series in which the artist introduces, with humorous images, legends and episodes related to the stations of the famous connecting route.
The rare print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the presence of small restorations, is in good condition.
