Kintai bridge

The Kintai Bridge spans the Nishiki River at Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, its five wooden arches first constructed in 1673 and repeatedly rebuilt to the original design after floods and wartime destruction. Saito's etched treatment of the subject departs from the literary interiors of his Genji series, placing him within the meisho-e tradition of celebrated-place imagery that runs through earlier ukiyo-e from Hokusai's Shokoku meikyō kiran onward. An etched composition would emphasize the rhythmic geometry of the arches, the stone piers, and the river surface beneath, working in incised line and aquatint rather than the saturated tonal fields of his mezzotint plates. The repeated curves lend themselves to the formal discipline of the etched line, where each arc can be built up through controlled cross-hatching and successive bites of acid. The subject reflects Saito's range beyond the literary cycle for which he is principally remembered, extending his catalog into Japan's continuing dialogue with its architectural landmarks.