The Kiso Kaidō route through Japan was established in the early 1600s by the then governor of the country, Tokugawa Ieyasu, who ordered the placement of stations along the arduous route between Edo (now Tokyo) and Kyoto. Inns, shops, and restaurants were established to provide food and accommodation to the weary travelers. In 1835, the famous woodblock artist Keisai Eisen was chosen to create a series of works to depict the journey of the Kiso Kaidō. After producing 24 prints, he was replaced by Utagawa Hiroshige, who completed the series with 70 prints in 1838. Both artists were masters of printmaking. In the exhibition "The Sixty-Nine Stations along the Kiso Kaidō," we see the distinct styles of the artists as well as their shared experience. From the bustling starting station of Nihonbashi to the castle town of Iwamurata, Eisen opts for a more subdued palette but excels in figure, especially with glamorous women, and enjoys moments of activity during the route, from outfitting a horse to rice provisioning. Hiroshige demonstrates his landscape prowess with imposing and orchestrated scenes, whether it's the quiet banks of the Ota River, the daunting Wada Pass, or a lunar ascent between Yawata and Mochizuki. Overall, the "Sixty-Nine Stations" collection is not only a masterpiece of woodblock prints, including bold compositions and experimental use of color, but also a captivating tapestry of 19th-century Japan, long before the industrial era. This TASCHEN XXL edition revives the series with appropriate scale and grandeur. Sourced from the only known complete set of the nearly full series of the first edition, this legendary publication is reproduced at the highest quality, bound in the Japanese tradition and with untrimmed paper. It is a perfect companion volume to TASCHEN's "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" edition, being both a visual delight and a significant ancient relic from the bygone era of Imperial Japan.