The Great Bridge at Matsue

Kazuma returned to Matsue Ohashi as a subject across several states and impressions, treating the wooden bridge across the Ohashi River as both a structural and tonal exercise. The print foregrounds the bridge's horizontal span against the open water draining from Lake Shinji, with the low silhouette of Matsue's older neighborhoods receding behind. As a founding figure of the Nihon Sosaku Hanga Kyokai, Kazuma carved and printed without intermediaries — an inversion of the traditional ukiyo-e workshop division of labor between artist, carver, and printer. The result in the woodblock medium often shows visible baren marks and a slight unevenness of inking that he embraced as evidence of the maker's hand. Matsue, the adopted home of Lafcadio Hearn, drew sustained interest from artists seeking to record a regional, pre-modern Japan. Kazuma's choice of this subject aligns with his broader documentary tendency, distinct from the romanticized landscape of Kawase Hasui and the night-scene specialization of Takahashi Shotei.