• Imaginary scene of the crossing of the Ōi River (<i>Ōikawa mitate kawagoshi</i> - 大井川見立川越): Nakamura Fukusuke I and Nakamura Tsuruzō I on the right; Iwai Kumesaburō III and Nakamura Ichizō I (?); Ichikawa Kodanji IV and Bandō Hikosaburō V; Onoe Kikujirō II and Kataoka Gadō II; and Arashi Kichisaburō III and Onoe Kikugorō IV on the left
Imaginary scene of the crossing of the Ōi River (<i>Ōikawa mitate kawagoshi</i> - 大井川見立川越): Nakamura Fukusuke I and Nakamura Tsuruzō I on the right; Iwai Kumesaburō III and Nakamura Ichizō I (?); Ichikawa Kodanji IV and Bandō Hikosaburō V; Onoe Kikujirō II and Kataoka Gadō II; and Arashi Kichisaburō III and Onoe Kikugorō IV on the left
Imaginary scene of the crossing of the Ōi River (<i>Ōikawa mitate kawagoshi</i> - 大井川見立川越): Nakamura Fukusuke I and Nakamura Tsuruzō I on the right; Iwai Kumesaburō III and Nakamura Ichizō I (?); Ichikawa Kodanji IV and Bandō Hikosaburō V; Onoe Kikujirō II and Kataoka Gadō II; and Arashi Kichisaburō III and Onoe Kikugorō IV on the left
Imaginary scene of the crossing of the Ōi River (<i>Ōikawa mitate kawagoshi</i> - 大井川見立川越): Nakamura Fukusuke I and Nakamura Tsuruzō I on the right; Iwai Kumesaburō III and Nakamura Ichizō I (?); Ichikawa Kodanji IV and Bandō Hikosaburō V; Onoe Kikujirō II and Kataoka Gadō II; and Arashi Kichisaburō III and Onoe Kikugorō IV on the left
Imaginary scene of the crossing of the Ōi River (<i>Ōikawa mitate kawagoshi</i> - 大井川見立川越): Nakamura Fukusuke I and Nakamura Tsuruzō I on the right; Iwai Kumesaburō III and Nakamura Ichizō I (?); Ichikawa Kodanji IV and Bandō Hikosaburō V; Onoe Kikujirō II and Kataoka Gadō II; and Arashi Kichisaburō III and Onoe Kikugorō IV on the left
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Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) / Toyokuni III (三代豊国) (artist 1786 – 01/12/1865)

Imaginary scene of the crossing of the Ōi River (Ōikawa mitate kawagoshi - 大井川見立川越): Nakamura Fukusuke I and Nakamura Tsuruzō I on the right; Iwai Kumesaburō III and Nakamura Ichizō I (?); Ichikawa Kodanji IV and Bandō Hikosaburō V; Onoe Kikujirō II and Kataoka Gadō II; and Arashi Kichisaburō III and Onoe Kikugorō IV on the left

Print

04/1856
47.5 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Toyokuni ga (豊国画)
Publisher: Ōtaya Takichi
(Marks 423 - seal 21-245)
Censor's seal: aratame & Dragon 4
Date seal: 4/1856
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - arranged in a different order than the examples in the Lyon Collection
Waseda University
Jordan Schnitzler Museum of Art - a different order Crossing the Ōi river is a theme which has been addressed by numerous Japanese woodblock print artists including Toyokuni I, Eizan, Eisen, Hiroshige I and II, Yoshiiku, Yoshitora, Yoshitsuya and here Toyokuni III.

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In Japanese Women Poets: An Anthology by Hiroaki Sato there is a section on Arii Shokyū (1714-81) in which she describes her crossing of the Ōi.
We passed the Kiku River [on the eighteenth] and arrived at the Ōi River. The water had risen because of the recent rain and ferrying had been suspended, resuming just today, we were told, to our relief. So we asked to be ferried. They put us on an oddly made board, and many people together carried it down into the river. Waves splashed over their shoulders. It was dangerous and terrifying, and I didn't feel I was alive. I kept my eyes closed, mumbling prayers, until the crossing was over. As if awakened from a dream, I turned to look. The place we had left behind was in the distance, and the people crossing looked like tiny water birds adrift in the waves.
In a footnote to this passage is a great explanation. "The Tokugawa government infamously maintained a ban on the construction of bridges over major rivers for purposes of defense. At such places “river-crossing men" (kawagoshi ninsoku [川越し人足]) were stationed to carry travelers and their luggage, either on their shoulders or on carrying boards. The Ōi River was regarded as the most difficult spot to cross along Japan's main artery at the time, the Tōkaidō Road."
Ōtaya Takichi (太田屋多吉) (publisher)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Nakamura Fukusuke I (初代中村福助: 3/1839 to 6/1860) (actor)
Nakamura Tsuruzō I (初代中村鶴蔵: 11/1818 to 8/1865) (actor)
Iwai Kumesaburō III (三代目岩井粂三郎: from 11/1832 to 1/1864) (actor)
Ichikawa Kodanji IV (四代目市川小団次: spring 1844 to 5/1866) (actor)
Bandō Hikosaburō V (五代目坂東彦三郎: 3/1856 to 10/1877) (actor)
Onoe Kikujirō II (二代目尾上菊次郎: 11/1835 to 12/1856 and 1858 to June 1875) (actor)
Kataoka Gadō II (二代目片岡我童: from 1837 to 12/1856) (actor)
Arashi Kichisaburō III (三代目嵐吉三郎 - from 1/1821 to 9/28/1864) (actor)
Onoe Kikugorō IV (四代目尾上菊五郎: from 9/1855 to 6/1860) (actor)