Snipe Marsh (Shigi tatsu sawa), 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 print depicts Shigi tatsu sawa — Snipe Marsh — a wetland meisho along the Tôkaidô Road, here embedded within the Processional Tôkaidô series. Snipe (shigi) were a frequent subject in Japanese kacho-e painting and poetry, associated with autumn dusk and the lonely atmosphere of reed marshes. The image likely shows one or more snipe among marsh vegetation — reeds, sedges, water — with the birds captured at the moment of flight or alert stillness that characterized skilled kacho-e observation. Within the meisho framework, the marsh served as both topographic record and atmospheric evocation, linking famous natural sites along the highway to poetic tradition. Kyosai's approach to bird subjects drew on both the Kanô school's careful study from life (shasei) and the expressive brushwork of the Maruyama-Shijô tradition, giving his birds an immediacy that transcended decorative convention. Bokashi gradation would render the marsh atmosphere — mist, reflected light, wet ground — against which the snipe's silhouette reads clearly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Snipe Marsh (Shigi tatsu sawa), 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 — Snipe Marsh (Shigi tatsu sawa), 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.
Snipe Marsh (Shigi tatsu sawa), 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 transportation, tōkaidō, and travel scenes.