Edo Woodblock Prints and Noritaka Tatehana "Ukiyoe in 2025: The Fifty-Seventh Stages of the Tokaido Exhibition Commemorating Completion of 60 Ukiyo-e Prints" will be held from November 21, 2012.

2024.10.28 12:00

東京伝統木版画工芸協同組合

Tokyo Traditional Woodblock Print Craft Association (Location: Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo; President: Yukiko Takahashi) has been working on a project to produce the 2023 edition of Ukiyoe "The Fifty-Seven Stages of the Tokaido Highway" since fiscal 2023. The exhibition will be held at Chigetsu, a Japanese-style restaurant in Kagurazaka, Tokyo, for four days from November 21 (Thursday) to November 24 (Sunday), 2024.

The famous ukiyoe "Fifty-three Stages of the Tokaido" is widely known for its collection of works depicting inns and scenery between Edo and Kyoto, but there are several references in the Shogunate's documents that there was another Tokaido Highway that divided the road from Otsu to Koraibashi, Osaka, Yodojuku (Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture), Hirakatajuku (Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture), Moriguchijuku (Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture), and the last stop: Koraibashi (Chuo-ku, Osaka City, Osaka Prefecture).

Edo woodblock prints are produced by a division of labor: the "painter" who draws the preliminary sketches, the "engraver" who makes the original woodblocks for the prints, and the "printer" who completes the Ukiyo-e by sliding the woodblocks onto paper. The Japanese ukiyoe print "57 Stages of the Tokaido Highway" was completed.

The venue was Kagurazaka, Tokyo, a town dotted with charming cobblestone pathways. Chigetsu, a long-established ryotei (Japanese-style restaurant) that was the center of the Kagurazaka Hanayagi world, will serve as the exhibition venue. We would like to invite you to travel along the 57 Stages of the Tokaido Highway in this historic space that has hosted celebrities from all walks of life, while experiencing the atmosphere of Edo.

In addition to the works created by Tatehana, we will also exhibit some of his original and valuable works. This is an excellent opportunity to see the fusion of traditional Japanese craftsmanship and contemporary art, so please come and visit the exhibition.

54 Fushimi Inn

55 Yodo Inn

The outline of the exhibition is as follows.

Outline of the exhibition commemorating the completion of all 60 prints of the Ukiyoe "57 Stages of the Tokaido Highway" in the 2025 edition.

Name: Exhibition commemorating the completion of 60 Ukiyoe prints in the 2025 edition of "The Fifty-Seven Stages of the Tokaido Highway

Venue: Chigetsu Ryotei, 3-1 Kagurazaka, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo

Access: 3-minute walk from Exit B4b of Iidabashi Station on the Tokyo Metro Namboku Line and Yurakucho Line

Dates: Thursday, November 21 - Sunday, November 24, 12:00 - 19:00 Admission free

Contents: Exhibition of a total of 60 maps of the Tokaido Highway from Nihonbashi to Osaka (Koraibashi) / Exhibition of original works by Noritaka Tatehana

　　　Exhibition of original works by Noritaka Tatehana

Artist: Noritaka Tatehana, contemporary artist

Engraver: Young artisans of Tokyo Traditional Woodblock Print Craft Cooperative

Printmaker: Young craftsmen of Tokyo Traditional Woodblock Print Craft Cooperative Association

Organizer: Tokyo Traditional Woodblock Print Craft Association https://edohanga.jp/

Promotional video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Yj8SUjmJEQ

ryotei "sengetsu" restaurant

Noritaka Tatehana Profile

Born in Tokyo in 1985. Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Crafts, majoring in dyeing and weaving.

His graduation project, a pair of heel-less shoes inspired by the geta of oiran (courtesans), was worn by the American singer Lady Gaga.

Currently, as a contemporary artist, he participates in exhibitions in Japan and abroad, and is also actively engaged in creative activities with traditional craftsmen.

Major exhibitions include "Future Beauty" (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2012), solo exhibition "The Aesthetics of Spell Power" (Taro Okamoto Memorial Museum of Art, 2016), "Items: Is Fashion Modern?" (Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2017), and "Wakoi Zekka" (Panasonic Shiodome Museum, 2020), Distance" (Yamaguchi Prefectural Hagi Art Museum and Urakami Memorial Museum, 2023), and a solo exhibition "Distance" (Yamaguchi Prefectural Hagi Art Museum and Urakami Memorial Museum, 2023).

His wide-ranging activities include a Bunraku performance at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, France, in March 2016.

His works are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum, among others. Following last year, he is also the exhibition director of the "Edo Tokyo Rethink Exhibition" (Former Iwasaki Residence Garden, 2024), an exhibition organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government as part of the "Edo Tokyo Kirari Project" and focusing on Tokyo's traditional industries.