Nachi Waterfall (Nachi no taki), 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
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
- Image courtesy of
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Description
This variant impression of the Nachi Waterfall composition from Kyosai's Tôkaidô meisho series depicts the 133-meter cascade sacred to the Kumano pilgrimage tradition, framed by the dense sugi forest of the Kii Peninsula. The falls' association with Hiryû Gongen — the waterfall deity enshrined at the base — made Nachi no Taki a subject carrying layers of meaning beyond scenic beauty: it represented the intersection of Shinto and Buddhist devotion that characterized medieval Japanese religious practice. Printing a subject this vertically oriented on washi required careful registration of multiple woodblocks to build the cliff faces, vegetation, and water column without misalignment. Kyosai's ink painting background likely influenced his compositional approach here, favoring decisive tonal contrasts between the dark forested gorge and the luminous falls rather than the graduated atmospheric hazes more typical of Hiroshige's treatment of similar waterfall subjects.
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Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nachi Waterfall (Nachi no taki), 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 was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).
Yes — Nachi Waterfall (Nachi no taki), 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 is part of the Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road series by Kawanabe Kyosai.
Nachi Waterfall (Nachi no taki), 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 depicts landscapes, tōkaidō, and famous places (meisho-e).