Kanbara-juku

Kanbara-juku in the 1830s, as depicted by Hiroshige in the Hoeido edition of The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1831-1834)

Kanbara-juku (蒲原宿, Kanbara-juku) was the fifteenth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in what is now part of the Shimizu-ku ward of Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is one of four former post stations located in Shimizu-ku.

History

The original Kanbara-juku was decimated by a flood in the early part of the Edo period, but was rebuilt shortly thereafter.

The classic ukiyoe print by Ando Hiroshige (Hoeido edition) from 1831-1834, depicts a mountain village at nightfall, through which three people are struggling under deep snow. It is a rather strange composition, as Kanbara is located in a very temperate area warmed by the Kuroshio current offshore, and even a light snowfall is extremely rare.

Neighboring post towns

Tōkaidō

Yoshiwara-juku - Kanbara-juku - Yui-shuku

Further reading

• Carey, Patrick. Rediscovering the Old Tokaido:In the Footsteps of Hiroshige. Global Books UK (2000). ISBN 1901903109
• Chiba, Reiko. Hiroshige's Tokaido in Prints and Poetry. Tuttle. (1982) ISBN 0804802467
• Taganau, Jilly. The Tokaido Road: Travelling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan. RoutledgeCurzon (2004). ISBN 0415310911