Utagawa Hiroshige
Nagakubo from Kisokaidô rokujûkyû tsugi no uchi
(Original and Modern Editions)

The figure on the right is a slightly cropped illustration of a modern copy of Hiroshige's Nagakubo Station along the Ida River in Shinano Province from the series "Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidô Road." It is well printed and appears close to the original when viewed at a glance, but a careful comparison of details reveals differences. One way to determine authenticity is to examine the inscriptions, which even the best block cutters would be challenged to reproduce. In the examples below, notice the slight differences in the length, direction, thickness, or angle of various strokes, including those in the red seals.

[Note: The original was scanned from a catalogue and so the edges of the lines may appear a bit ragged - the result of photomechanical imperfections, not of the original block cutting.]