Yanagibashi
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Edition:
- Self-printed
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Description
This woodblock print depicts Yanagibashi, the Willow Bridge district along the Sumida River in Tokyo, treated here as a standalone subject rather than as part of the Twelve Views of Tokyo series. The district's atmosphere of riverside leisure and refined entertainment had been a favorite subject for artists since the Edo period, and Hakutei's modern rendering places him in a long lineage while asserting the sosaku-hanga difference. The willow trees that gave the area its name offered Hakutei organic, flowing forms to contrast with the rigid geometry of the bridge and surrounding buildings. The print captures a neighborhood in transition, where the old pleasure-quarter culture of teahouses and geisha was gradually yielding to the commercial pressures of modern Tokyo.
More Prints by Ishii Hakutei
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yanagibashi was created by Ishii Hakutei (石井柏亭).
Yanagibashi depicts urban scenes, rivers & lakes, and bridges.