"#47 Komagata Bridge & the steamship port"

Medium:: Woodblock print
Source:: The Art of Japan

Image courtesy of

The Art of Japan

Description

Number 47 in Koizumi's One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo series depicts Komagata Bridge, which spans the Sumida River near the Asakusa waterfront, with the steamship landing at Komagata Dock visible in the composition. As with all prints in this series, Koizumi designed, carved, and printed every block himself. The composition likely contrasts the arc of the bridge against the industrial activity of the port, where riverboats and steamships define early Showa commercial life on the Sumida. Koizumi frequently employed graduated bokashi in his sky and water passages to convey atmosphere and time of day. The pairing of a traditional bridge form with modern maritime infrastructure is characteristic of his interest in Tokyo in transition — a city simultaneously bound to its Edo-period waterway culture and expanding into industrial modernity.

More Prints by Kishio Koizumi

#35 Municipal Hall

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Autumn Color along the Moat at Hanzo Gate (Hanzomon go-horihata no aki iro), from the series "One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era (Showa dai Tokyo fukei hyaku zue hanga)"

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The Memorial Hall of the Earthquake in Honjo, from the series One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era

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Kiba Lumberyard along the River at Fukugawa (New Edition) [Fukagawa-ku, kiba no kawasuji (shinpan)], from the series "One Hundred Views of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era (Showa dai Tokyo fukei hyaku zue hanga)"

1940

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Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Mount Fuji in Japanese Woodblock Prints Shin-Hanga: Japan's Twentieth-Century Print Revival Sōsaku-Hanga: The Creative-Print Movement Meisho-e: Famous-Place Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

"#47 Komagata Bridge & the steamship port" was created by Kishio Koizumi (小泉癸巳男).

"#47 Komagata Bridge & the steamship port" depicts landscapes.