Driving Rain at Shono from the series Fifty-three Stations on the Tokaido Road

In 1832, Utagawa Hiroshige received an invitation to join an official procession to deliver gifts from his hometown, Edo, to the emperor in Kyoto. Traveling along the Tōkaidō route that linked the two capitals, Hiroshige sketched every village along the way. When Hiroshige returned home, he completed a fifty five print series commemorating his journey called Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido Road, which contains some of his best-known prints. Hiroshige sometimes altered landscape details and changed the season to fit his concept. In the print Driving Rain at Shono, Hiroshige depicts four people climbing a hill in a harsh storm. The darker color tones of the landscape - a departure from the theme of the other prints in the series - help bring attention to the colorful human subjects.