All

Roads Lead To Edo

Welcome to All Roads Lead to Edo

My photographic project All Roads Lead to Edo was born from the profound impact that Utagawa Hiroshige's masterpiece The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō had on me.

Like a modern-day traveler, I set out to journey along the ancient Tōkaidō road, the main artery of Japan during the Edo period, which ran alongside the Pacific Ocean, connecting the imperial capital of Kyoto with the political heart of Edo, modern-day Tokyo. This was not merely a physical trip from Tokyo to Kyoto, but an emotional and artistic pilgrimage.

Freely drawing inspiration from Hiroshige's celebrated woodblock prints (he is recognised as a master of the ukiyo-e tradition and one of Japan's greatest landscape artists) I sought to capture with my lens not just what is seen, but what is “felt”. My goal was not to draw a comparison between "then" and "now," nor to simply document the current state of these locations.

All Roads Lead to Edo was conceived with a different purpose: to share the emotions and sensations that these places, once traversed by samurai, merchants, and pilgrims, continue to evoke. Through my photographic vision, I have tried to breathe new life into the atmosphere of the original prints, to capture the same air, even if filtered through the centuries.

This project is my invitation for you to travel with me, to sense the echo of an ancient and poetic Japan that persists, resilient and evocative, along the road that leads to Edo.

Valentina Giacomini