Hiroshige Kunisada Two Brushes Tokaido

The cooperative work between Hiroshige and Kunisada (1854 -1855) is probably the most romantic of all the Tokaido editions. Both Hiroshige and Kunisada did their own individual versions with the same type of theme - a combination of landscape and often unrelated portraits based in legend and other motifs. But they did not rise to the level of elegance of the "Two Brush" Tokaido. The figures and the landscape are very well balanced and the colors are fresh and joyful. The "Two Brush" Tokaido is both a tour through the landscape of Japan and a cultural introduction. The reason for the combination of landscape and theater was to circumvent censorship of the popular kabuki theater prints.