Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran)
Ancient View of Yatsuhashi in Mikawa Province
Mikawa no Yatsuhashi no kozu
Katsushika Hokusai · c. 1834
What it is
A plank bridge zigzags across a marsh at Yatsuhashi in Mikawa, travellers cross it, and mist lies over the water.
Why it matters
The title calls it an ancient view: a place already old in memory when Hokusai drew it.
What to notice
The bridge turns back and forth in sharp angles, and the travellers on it follow every turn.
A bridge that refuses to go straight.
The record
- Artist
- Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (1760–1849)
- Series
- Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran)
- Date
- c. 1834
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP1398
Impression note. A horizontal ōban, about 26 by 38 cm on the Met record. The bridges are drawn in fine, exact lines against broad fields of colour, and a clean impression keeps every plank and rail distinct. 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
Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran)Fukui Bridge in Echizen ProvinceKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1830
Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran)Kintai Bridge in Suō ProvinceKatsushika Hokusai · 1827–30
Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran)Old View of the Boat-bridge at Sano in Kōzuke ProvinceKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1830
Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces (Shokoku meikyō kiran)Tenman Bridge in Settsu ProvinceKatsushika Hokusai · c. 1830 (date of the series; the Met record gives only the artist’s dates)The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.