Snow at the Shin Bridge, Nikko

Description

The Sacred Bridge (Shinkyo) is a famous bridge, part of the Futarasan Shrine in Nikko. There has been a bridge in the same location for a long time, and the current bridge was build in the same design as the bridge that was present there since 1636. Its red and black colors stand out in the scenic nature around it. Not surprisingly, it was a popular scene for Shin-Hanga artists, and many of them, including Hiroshi Yoshida and Tsuchiya Koitsu, depicted it. Here Kawase Hasui shows it in a winter landscape, with snow slowly falling all around. This Kawase Hasui print is part of a group of designs he first made around 1930 for the publishing partnership Sakai-Kawaguchi. The woodblocks were destroyed during the war, and after the war the rights to the designs were transferred to the publisher Shobisha. With the involvement of Kawase Hasui, new woodblocks were carved for the designs in the 1950s, and Shobisha has published them from the 1950s onward to the present day. Listing the date of the first edition in the 1950s might be more accurate, but within the woodblock print community and literature the years of the initial designs are commonly used.