A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)
The Amida Falls in the Far Reaches of the Kisokaidō Road
Kisoji no oku Amida-ga-taki
Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1827 (date on the Met record)
What it is
At the top of the Amida Falls a round pool opens in the rock like an eye, the water spills from it, and picnickers sit on a ledge to one side.
Why it matters
Hokusai makes the source of the water a perfect circle, the most abstract shape in the series.
What to notice
The circular pool at the top is drawn in rings of blue, and the cliff around it is cut into flat, patterned planes.
The water begins in a circle and ends as a line.
The record
- Artist
- Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760–1849)
- Series
- A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)
- Date
- c. 1827 (date on the Met record)
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP1085
Impression note. A vertical ōban, about 37 by 26 cm on the Met record. Hokusai’s falling water is carved as long, separate lines, and a clean impression keeps them unbroken from the lip of the fall to the pool. This is the largest clean open impression of the design the Met holds. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.
Public domain; faithfully reproduced.
Bring it home
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.
From the same series
A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)The Waterfall Where Yoshitsune Washed His Horse at Yoshino in Yamato ProvinceKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1832 · from $69.00
A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)Kirifuri Waterfall at Kurokami Mountain in ShimotsukeKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1832 · from $69.00
A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)Kiyotaki Kannon Waterfall at Sakanoshita on the TōkaidōKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1832 · from $69.00
A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)Ono Waterfall on the KisokaidōKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1832 · from $69.00The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.