Landscape (SANSUI)
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Watanabe Print
- Image courtesy of
- Watanabe Print
Description
Titled simply Sansui — the Sino-Japanese compound for landscape, literally mountain-water — this woodblock print invokes the classical East Asian genre of idealized natural scenery derived from Chinese ink painting traditions. Kyosai trained extensively in the Kanō school, which placed Chinese-derived ink painting at the center of its curriculum, giving him fluency in the sansui visual vocabulary: receding mountain ranges, mist-filled valleys, pine and bamboo, pavilions set within vast natural space, and the suggestion of water through negative space. Translated into woodblock, sansui conventions required carvers and printers to render the tonal gradations of ink wash through successive color blocks and bokashi techniques. Kyosai's particular contribution to the genre would have been the vitality of his brushwork — even in print form, his landscapes tend toward expressive line over topographic fidelity, distinguishing them from the more measured landscape compositions of the Hiroshige tradition.
More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Old Picture of the Rashômon Gate (Rashômon no ko zu), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho tsuzuki
Woodblock print
Tsukishimadera Temple in Hyôgo (Hyôgo Tsukishimadera), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
Woodblock print
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
More Landscapes Prints
Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Autumn Maple Leaves at Takao, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei)
Woodblock print
The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
Tea Kettle, section of a sheet from the series "Mirror of Stone Rubbings of Views of the Provinces" (Kohon meihitsu ishizuri kagami)
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Landscape (SANSUI) was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).
Landscape (SANSUI) depicts landscapes.