The Tkaid is perhaps the most important road in Japans history. Built in the 17th century, it connected the countrys two powerhouses: it runs from Kyoto, the imperial capital, to Edo (now Tokyo), the seat of the Shogunate.As well as being an important political and trade route, depictions of theTkaid inart in literature were abundant and popular.

The best-known of these isUtagawa Hiroshigess series of ukiyo-e woodcut prints, The Fifty-three Stations of the Tkaid . Ukiyo-e woodblock printing like this continued to flourishin Japan until the 19th century.

Less famousthan Hiroshige is therelatively unknown ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Yoshishige, whoproduced his own prints of the 53 stations along the Tkaido by depicting each station in the form of a potted landscape .

Utagawa Yoshishiges illustrations, which are dated 1848, appear to be based on actualminiature landscape models , made by the artists father. These bonkei () or tray landscapes are miniature three-dimensional depictions of landscapes in miniature. Unlike bonsai , bonkei landscapes dont typically include living plants, but are mostly made up of dry materials like rock and paper mache.

Here we bring you a selection of our favourites, in a collection well be calling Fifty-three Ten Stations of the Tkaid as Potted Landscapes .

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