Hanga
The full moon at Uji Bridge by Kamei Tobei — Japanese Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

The full moon at Uji Bridge

by Kamei Tobei

Medium:
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
Image courtesy of
Saru Gallery

Description

A view of the bridge at Uji — south of Kyoto, among the oldest documented bridges in Japan and a site with long-standing literary and visual associations through the Genji monogatari and the Hyakunin Isshu — under a full moon. Uji Bridge is a classic meisho subject, treated by ukiyo-e designers from Hokusai and Hiroshige onward, and the moonlit register places the print in the tsukimi tradition of autumn moon viewing. A composition of this type generally uses the bridge as a horizontal anchor across the middle band of the sheet, with the moon set high in a gradated indigo or grey sky carried by bokashi, and the river surface registered as a flat band of darker ink. Mokuhanga production would carry the bridge structure through the keyblock and use a restrained palette of indigo, grey, and black for the night atmosphere. Within Kamei's wider output, an Uji Bridge moonlight scene fits squarely within the shin-hanga landscape and meisho-e register that defined his career.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The full moon at Uji Bridge was created by Kamei Tobei (亀井東平).

The full moon at Uji Bridge depicts bridges and moonlight.