Rakkan

Fugaku 36 Kei and Tokaido 53 Tsugi. Fugaku 36 Kei is an artist, Hokusai drew sceneries with Mt. Fuji from 36 different locations, and Tokaido (Tokai Highway) 53 Tsugi is drawing 53 stages between Tokyo and Kyoto by the famous artist Hiroshige and some others. Having believed that Tokaido and Fugaku are two of the best sources of Maki-e designs on pens and, I asked Mr. Masanori Omote for the Grand Trio collection and Mr. Minoru Oohata for the Mikado collection. There are seven designs of Tokaido/36Kei series and all use Taka and Togidashi Maki-e techniques with various sizes of gold mixed with silver powders as the main color on them.

MK-2, Nihon Bashi and Shinagawa (Nihon Bridge & Shinagawa). Since the Nihon Bridge (on cap) is located in the center of Edo (Tokyo), it is the first station of this highway towards Kyoto and it was the original famous fish market center in Japan, and even now you can see some old shops still there. Shinagawa (on barrel) was regarded as a stop and tourists stayed overnight there. This town has become a part of Tokyo today, the Shinagawa district.

MK-3, Sanka Hakuu (Showers beneath the peak of Mt. Fuji) It is one of the most famous paintings of 36Kei (on cap) by Hokusai. On the barrel is "Aoyama Enza-no Matsu" (Pine tree with a dome shape) also by Hokusai. In today's Shibuya district of Tokyo, a temple called "Ryugan Temple" has a famous pine tree in its yard called Enza-no Matsu because the shape in the dome and its branches spread to 100 feet wide.

MK-4, Kanagawa-oki Namiura (Off the coast of Kanagawa). It is one of the best among 36Kei (cap). This world renowned painting is shown very often on stamps or at famous auction houses in the world. The barrel has another famous 36Kei, "view of Kajikazawa in Ko-shu".

MK-5, Hodogaya and Kanagawa (Two names of places). Hodogaya, a stage of Tokaido by Hiroshige (cap) is hard to trace its image today in Katapira-cho, Yokohama. Kanagawa (barrel), less than 10 miles from Tokyo, was a busy place in the Meiji era. There were consulate offices from America, France, Britain and the Netherlands.