Fair weather after snow at Yamato bridge (Kyoto)

The print depicts the Yamato Bridge in Kyoto under clear skies following a fresh snowfall, a subject joining the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) tradition of named places with the seasonal poetics of yuki-bare (the clearing weather after snow). The image would render snow accumulation through [karazuri](/glossary/karazuri) (blind embossing) on the bridge railings and rooftops, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation in the cleared sky to suggest the still atmosphere of a winter morning. Compositions of this type typically anchor architectural elements as steady horizontal and vertical forms within an otherwise quiet landscape, with the Kamogawa or a tributary providing recession. The print belongs to Yoshikawa's documentation of pre-modern Kyoto, an undertaking informed by the antiquarian sensibility that defined his career as both painter and costume historian. Within the wider [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) movement his Kyoto views are more reserved than the atmospheric drama of Hasui or Yoshida, reflecting his scholarly attachment to the topographical fabric of his native city.