Kai Province: Monkey Bridge (Kai, Saruhashi), from the series "Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces (Rokujuyoshu meisho zue)"
Medium
Color woodblock print; oban
Dimensions
35.4 × 24.5 cm (13 15/16 × 9 5/8 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
26645
Art Historical Context
In Utagawa Hiroshige's *Kai Province: Monkey BridgeKai, Saruhashi)* from the series *Famous Places in the-odd Provinces (Rokujuyoshu meisho zue)*, created in 1853 we encounter a masterful snapshot of Japan's rugged natural beauty. This color woodblock print captures the dramatic Saruhashi Bridge in Kai (modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture), vine-suspended span over a rushing river gorge, evoking the precarious "monkey bridge" nickname from local lore. Hiroshige, a leading ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period, populates the scene with tiny travelers and lush foliage, blending human endeavor with nature...
About the Artist
Utagawa Hiroshige · 1826–1869
Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), born Andō Tokutarō, was the last great master of Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock printmaking and one of the most influential landscape artists in history. Born in Edo (modern Tokyo) into a low-ranking samurai family serving as fire wardens, Hiroshige transformed landscape printmaking into a poetic meditation on nature, weather, and everyday life. His revolutionary approac...