Distant Views of Famous Mountains and Cherry Blossoms in Kumagaya on a Round Trip Train to Takasaki

In July 1883, the first private railway company in Japan, Japan Railways, opened train services from Ueno (Tokyo) to Kumagaya (northern Saitama Prefecture). The following year, the line was extended to Takasaki (southwestern Gunma Prefecture). This nishiki-e, a multicolored woodblock print, depicts the scenery travelers could watch from train windows, such as cherry blossoms and the Arakawa River, as they traveled through Tokyo and Saitama to Takasaki. Visible mountains in the picture include Mt. Fuji, Mt. Chichibu, Mt. Myōgi, Mt. Haruma, and Mt. Akagi. There is a train timetable and fares printed on the right. The artist, recorded on the print as Gondō Kunimasa, is more popularly known as Utagawa Kunimasa V.