「万代橋朝日出」

A second impression of the sunrise at Bandai Bridge composition, this print documents a variation in how Kiyochika's publisher reproduced one of his most technically demanding types of composition. Sunrise prints required the carvers and printers to execute extremely precise bokashi — the gradational shading technique achieved by carefully wiping ink from the woodblock before pressing the washi — to render the subtle shifts from pre-dawn darkness through rose and gold to full daylight. The two states of this composition likely differ in the intensity of the sunrise coloring, the depth of the sky gradient, or the warmth of the reflected light on the water surface. Among Kiyochika's meisho-e, bridge-and-water sunrise views were among the most technically ambitious and represent some of his most sustained engagement with Western atmospheric perspective.