Twelve Subjects of Tokyo : Kaminohashi Bridge at Fukagawa 東京十二題 深川上の橋

Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) was a print artist who produced over 600 woodblock prints during the Taisho and Showa periods. Almost all are landscapes. Hasui is known as “the Showa Hiroshige,” a nickname that likens him to Utagawa Hiroshige, who produced many landscape prints and paintings during the Edo period, This print depicts the Kaminohashi Bridge, which spanned the mouth of the Sendai Canal where it joined the Sumida River. The contrast between the yellow sky and the blue of the river water beautifully captures twilight in summer. In his description of the work, Hasui remarked that “Somehow Hokusai’s Panoramic Views of Both Banks of the Sumidagawa River floated into my mind around here.” He used Hokusai’s images in that picture book as examples when describing the characteristics of this area. It is not, however, possible to discover a direct relationship between this print by Hasui and those in Hokusai’s book. Still the composition of this print, looking underneath the bridge at the west bank of the Sumida River, is very similar to another picture by Hokusai, the Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji: Under Mannenbashi Bridge in Fukagawa, in which we glimpse the distant Mt. Fuji from underneath Mannenbashi Bridge. In 1920, one hundred-twenty years after Hokusai’s book was published, Hasui imagined Edo from Kaminohashi Bridge. Today, 98 years later, even if we stand on the same spot, the Sumida River hidden by the tall embankments. Kaminohashi Bridge is long gone; only its main pillars remain, beside the sidewalk. Unlike Hasui, who could imagine Edo in Hokusai’s day as he observed Tokyo, the cityscape has changed so much that we now find it extremely difficult to imagine scenes from Taisho-period Tokyo.