 1
Nihonbashi (Eisen)
The Nihonbashi Bridge was the starting point of "ichiri-zuka" mileposts
(ichiri = 2.44 miles) installed along highways around the country in 1604
(9th year of Keicho).
Sunrise over Edo. View of the canal with the sun, cut by streaks of mist,
rising behind the houses, crowds by the bridge, and coolies pushing a
cart laden with bales over it.
 2
Itabashi (Eisen)
The place name of Itabashi came from the Itabashi Bridge over the Shakujii
River. This is a humorous scene where a palanquin
bearer is touting a travelling couple, probably man and wife, for use
of palanquins but the couple is hurrying away, pretending not to hear
him.
A man shoeing a horse by a roadside hut; on the left, the first houses
of the village.
 3
Warabi (Eisen)
Ferry over the Toda River. A large ferry-boat laden with passengers and
a horse being poled across the river, travellers and horses waiting on
the further bank; tow herons flying over the boat.
 4
Urawa (Eisen)
The mountain smoking at left is Mt. Asama. This volcano is actually 120
km away from here and therefore much smaller. The town on the other side
of the bridge may be the post town of Omiya. A packhorse driver is leading
a horse.
 5
Omiya (Eisen)
Omiya means "Grand Shrine." In fact, Omiya had the Korigawa Shrine, which
was the largest of Shinto shrines in the province of Musashi. This post
town was known to have the greatest number of "honjins" and "waki-honjins"
(inns appointed for daimyos and their troupes) on the Kisokaido Highway.
Mt. Fuji, showing its beautiful figure in the picture, is actually about
100 km away from here.
 6
Ageo (Eisen)
The Kisokaido Highway, which took an inland route of this country, first
crossed the great plain of Kanto. At the station of Ageo located about
31 km from the Nihonbashi Bridge, the road was still flat and straight.
The vertical flags standing in the precincts of the Grand Shrine of Kamo
are advertising "Takenouchi" and "Hoeidoh", the publishers of these prints.
The Shinto Temple of Kamo, with a rest house outside the grounds, and
peasants winnowing rice in front of it.
 7
Okegawa (Eisen)
The post town of Okegawa prospered as a centre of safflower-growing. On
this autumn day, a traveller is speaking to a peasant woman busy threshing
"Nakasendo wheat" outside a thatched hut. Probably he is asking directions
to the Kano-Tenjin Shrine which had famous heated mineral baths curative
of many diseases.
 8
Konosu (Eisen)
The location is some point in today's Fukiage township near the city of
Gyoda, which used to be a castle town known for the production of Japanese-style
socks.
A distant view of Fuji seen across fields, and porters passing along;
on the left a pilgrim in a large basket-hat.
 9
Kumagaya (Eisen)
In the Kamakura period, this area was the fief of Kumagaya-Jiro Naozane
who served under Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), the first Minamoto Shogun.
The name of this post town came from his name.
A traveller arriving at the cross-roads, at the entrance to the village,
in a kago, and another, on foot,
chatting to him; on the left, a woman serving two coolies at a wayside
tea-house, and behind a horse feeding with his nose in a bucket. On the
extreme right a road-direction post, and behind it a shrine, with a stone
figure inside and a candle burning in front of it; the embankment stretching
away behind in the distance uphill.
 10
Fukaya (Eisen)
A group of women, guided by one leading with a lantern, passing along
the street.
This is a scene of the entertainment quarters in the post town of Fukaya.
In painting this picture, Eisen, who was known more as a painter of beautiful
women than as a landscapist, did justice to his fame. The travellers and
the houses lining the street in the background are simply dark figures
in the dusk of the evening. The individual carriages of five prostitutes
walking along the street are depicted by a vivid touch.
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