A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)
Kirifuri Waterfall at Kurokami Mountain in Shimotsuke
Shimotsuke Kurokamiyama Kirifuri no taki
Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1832
What it is
The Kirifuri Waterfall on Kurokami Mountain spreads into dozens of separate streams down a rock face, while tiny travellers look up from the foot.
Why it matters
Of the falls in the series this is the most branched, the water broken into fingers that run over every ledge.
What to notice
Each stream is a separate carved line, and they branch and rejoin like the roots of a tree turned upside down.
Water finds every way down at once.
The record
- Artist
- Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760–1849)
- Series
- A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)
- Date
- c. 1832
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP2924
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)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 $69.00
A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces (Shokoku taki meguri)Rōben Waterfall at Ōyama in Sagami ProvinceKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1827 (date on the Met record) · from $69.00The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.