Onjiku Beach (Onjiku no hama)
by Kogan Tobari
- Date:
- Japanese, Taishô era
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- mfa
Description
Onjiku Beach (Onjiku no hama), a Taisho-era woodblock, depicts the coastline at Onjuku in Chiba Prefecture, a stretch of Pacific shore known for its surfing waves and broad sandy beach. Tobari renders the seascape with the directness of sosaku-hanga, his own carving translating wave, sand, and sky into the binary language of cut and uncut wood. The beach subject strips the composition to essentials: the horizontal division between land, sea, and sky, complicated only by the movement of water and the texture of sand. Onjiku's relatively undeveloped shoreline in the Taisho era would have presented a wild, natural scene far from urban Tokyo.
More Prints by Kogan Tobari
More Seascapes Prints
Child of the Sea
1940
Woodblock print
The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
Pacific Ocean, Awa Province (Boshu Taikai), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series (Tabi miyage dai sanshu)"
Boshu Taikai
1925
Color woodblock print; oban
Pine Beach at Miho (Miho no Matsubara), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)"
September 1931
Color woodblock print; oban
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Onjiku Beach (Onjiku no hama) was created by Kogan Tobari (戸張孤雁) in Japanese, Taishô era.
Onjiku Beach (Onjiku no hama) depicts seascapes.