Netsuki

The 53 post stations along the Tokaido road

The Tokaido was the principal road which connected the historical capital Edo to the new capital Kyoto. 53 post stations were built along this route where travellers could also stay the night. Ukyio-e artist Kuniyoshi used their names to play a typical Japanese word game. He sought out words that sounded similar and then drew cats which represented those words. For instance Kamaya sounds like Tamaya, “like a ball”. So he drew a fat cat.