_Kisokaido_, the Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido Road between Yedo and Kyoto; a series in which Keisai Yeisen collaborated, producing twenty-three of the seventy plates. Many of the plates are uninteresting; but a quarter of them are superb. The set was reprinted at least twice in inferior editions. In this, which we may call the Kisokaido Period of Hiroshige's work, he abandoned to a certain extent the delicate drawing of his Great Tokaido and Yedo Period and employed larger unbroken colour masses, aiming at broader effects. In the fifties, Hiroshige abandoned almost entirely the horizontal or lateral prints of his earlier days and adopted the upright shape. In this form he produced the following series, as well as others not named:-- _Upright Tokaido_, published by Tsutaya, 1855; a fine series when well printed, but the late editions were crude in colour (Plate 54). _Views of the Sixty-nine Provinces_, 1856; the rare first edition, which is much the finer, is distinguished by having five seals on the face of each plate. It contains a great deal of uninteresting work, but also ten or fifteen masterpieces. [Illustration: HIROSHIGE: THE OMMAYA EMBANKMENT, ON THE SUMIDA RIVER AT ASAKUSA--EVENING. One of the Series "The Hundred Views of Yedo." Size 13 × 9. Signed _Hiroshige ga_. _Plate 55._] _Three Triptychs._--The Rapids of Awa No Naruto, Moonlight View of Kanazawa, and Snow Mountains on the Kiso Highway, all dated 1857, and all magnificent. _Two Kakemono-ye_, very large--the Monkey Bridge and the Snow Gorge of the Fuji River, things of matchless impressiveness. _The One Hundred Views of Yedo_, 1858; 119 plates, including, besides much rubbish, 25 masterpieces (Plate 55). _The Thirty-six Views of Fuji_, 1859; inferior, upon the whole, to his earlier work. There are in existence very few well-printed copies. In the last two or three of these series it is more than probable that Hiroshige was assisted by his pupil Hiroshige II. The finest plates in all these later series are equal to the master's most splendid earlier designs; but certain of the plates are of so banal a character that it is impossible to believe them to be from the great man's hand. Doubtless the distinction between the work of the two artists cannot always be drawn with certainty; but as a general rule we may regard the work as that of Hiroshige II if we find the figures stiff and wooden, if the composition is lacking in any central unity, or if some large ugly object is thrust into the foreground with the hope of thus putting the background into its proper relative place. At this period less care was taken with the printing, and the majority of prints from these later series are miserable impressions that libel Hiroshige's powers. When well printed they can be very fine indeed; but the poor copies outnumber the good a hundred to one.