The Kintai Bridge in Suho province - Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

Estampe  Showa vers 1970    39 x 26 cm

Wondrous Views of Famous Bridges in All the Provinces: Kintai Bridge, Suo Province
(Shokoku Meikyo Kiran: Suo-no-Kuni Kintai-Bashi)

A rain shower over the graceful arches of the famous Kintai or Brocade Sash Bridge at Iwakuni in Suo Province. Tiny figures hurry across the structure as raindrops slant across the sky, the towers of a daimyo's palace rising above the trees on the opposite shore. A terrific design from this wonderful series.

travelers bow under a light rain as they cross the repeating arches of the Kintai Bridge, in the distance low clouds begin to obscure a mountain; signed zen Hokusai Iitsu hitsu, with publisher's seal Eijudo (Nishimura Yohachi) and censor's kiwame seal, ca. 1834.

oban yoko-e 10 by 14 1/2 in., 25.3 by 36.7 cm

There are only eleven known designs for this series illustrating famous bridges. The Kintai-bashi, or 'Bridge of the Brocade Sash,' spanning the Nishikigawa (Brocade River) in Iwakuni was built by Kikkawa Hiroyoshi in 1673. Comprised of four stone pilings and five arches, the bridge was engineered to withstand annual flooding that had destroyed earlier wood versions; it survived until 1950 when it was destroyed in a typhoon. The building on the opposite bank is the mansion of the Kikkawa clan, the daimyo of Iwakuni. A retainer accompanying a samurai beneath an umbrella on the second arch heading towards the Kikkawa mansion carries a standard that is in the distinctive diamond shape of Eijudo's publisher seal.