Hanga
Shrine Gate at Miyajima by Koho Shoda — Japanese Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

Shrine Gate at Miyajima

by Koho Shoda

Medium:
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
Image courtesy of
Saru Gallery

Description

This second treatment of the Itsukushima torii suggests Shoda returned to the subject under different conditions—a different time of day, tide level, or season—a common practice among shin-hanga designers who produced multiple variants of the same meisho. The torii of Miyajima, set in the shallows of the Seto Inland Sea, was depicted across the shin-hanga movement by Hasui, Yoshida, and others, each artist seeking a distinct atmospheric reading. Shoda's compositional approach typically places the gate centrally, allowing bokashi gradations of sea and sky to carry the emotional weight of the scene. The vermillion lacquered timber is registered as a separate color block, calibrated against the surrounding tonal field. Print variants of this kind testify to the iterative working method of the shin-hanga publishers, who would commission multiple versions of a popular subject. The Miyajima image sits within Shoda's wider catalogue of religious-site meisho-e alongside his more frequent kacho-e and nocturnal landscapes.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Shrine Gate at Miyajima was created by Koho Shoda (庄田耕峰).

Shrine Gate at Miyajima depicts temples & shrines.