Hanga
Night view of Dotonbori Canal by Oda Kazuma — Japanese Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

Night view of Dotonbori Canal

by Oda Kazuma

Sōsaku-hanga
Night Scenes
Medium:
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
Image courtesy of
Saru Gallery

Description

A nocturnal view (yakei) of Osaka's Dōtonbori, the canal-side entertainment district lined with theatres, restaurants and illuminated signage. The print likely sets ink-saturated dark planes against bright reflections in the water, with paper lanterns or shopfront lamps as accent points; bokashi gradation may carry the sky from deep indigo into near-black. Dōtonbori held particular significance for Kazuma, whose brother operated a print shop in Osaka where he first learned lithography, making the city a formative site rather than a touristic destination. As yakei the print belongs to a sub-genre worked extensively by his sosaku hanga and shin-hanga contemporaries, but Kazuma's treatment leans on the silhouette-and-reflection compositional logic more typical of European nocturne lithography than of Hiroshige-era night views, importing a Whistler- or Bonnard-tinged sensibility into Japanese woodblock.

More Prints by Oda Kazuma

Spring Rain at Mount Tsukuba (Tsukuba-san shun'u), from the series "Picture Album of the Famous Mountains of Japan (Nihon meisan gafu)" by Oda Kazuma

Spring Rain at Mount Tsukuba (Tsukuba-san shun'u), from the series "Picture Album of the Famous Mountains of Japan (Nihon meisan gafu)"

Landscape, from set of views of Tokyo scenery entitled Tokyo fûkei hangashû by Oda Kazuma

Landscape, from set of views of Tokyo scenery entitled Tokyo fûkei hangashû

Woodblock print

Daison Hoki in the Distance by Oda Kazuma

Daison Hoki in the Distance

Woodblock print

Ginza by Night by Oda Kazuma

Ginza by Night

Woodblock print

More Night Scenes Prints

E

Evening in East Africa

Woodblock print

E

Evening Shower at Teradomari (Teradomari no yau), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"

Teradomari no yau

1921

Color woodblock print; oban

Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui

Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"

1947

Color woodblock print; oban

Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)" by Kawase Hasui

Evening Moon at Nakanoshima, Sapporo (Sapporo Nakanoshima no yuzuki), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan, Eastern Japan Edition (Nihon fukei shu higashi Nihon hen)"

March 1933

Color woodblock print; oban

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Sōsaku-Hanga: The Creative-Print Movement

Frequently Asked Questions

Night view of Dotonbori Canal was created by Oda Kazuma (織田一磨).

Night view of Dotonbori Canal depicts night scenes.