The Road Less Traveled

Edo’s Nakasendō
November 9, 2024 - April 27, 2025
Museum Galleries
A woodblock print showing a vast, narrow, snow-covered, gorge with a small person hiking a steep path on the right side. There is a flowing river below and a starry sky above.
Utagawa Hiroshige II 二代目 歌川広重, Snow in the Kiso Gorge, Shinano Province (信州木曽の雪 Shinshū Kiso no yuki), 1859, 10th month. Gift of Mrs. Gustav Radeke.

The Nakasendō, one of Japan’s main highways during the Edo period (1615–1868), connected Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Kyoto. An alternative to the more heavily traveled Tōkaidō highway that ran along the eastern seaboard, the Nakasendō (also known as the Kisokaidō) snaked inland across Japan’s central plains and highlands, covering spectacular terrain from rugged snow-covered mountains to expansive serene lakes. This exhibition highlights an 1819 map by illustrator Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) that details the Nakasendō route and its 69 post stations. Hokusai’s map is accompanied by 15 vibrant woodblock prints showing famous sites and views along this scenic highway, including the spectacular Ono Waterfalls in Nagano and the floating castle of Lake Suwa.

Curated by Wai Yee Chiong, curator of Asian art.

RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees, and Museum Governors.

More Events