Niju Bashi Bridge

This impression from the Niju Bashi sequence shows Onchi's continued return to the stone bridge motif, a subject he treated repeatedly in the prewar and early postwar decades. Niju Bashi is the ceremonial entrance to the Tokyo Imperial Palace, and the bridge functioned as a charged civic symbol throughout Onchi's lifetime, though his treatment is notable for its political reticence: the architecture is presented as form, not emblem. The composition centers on the doubled arches and their water reflection, with the moat treated as a single saturated tonal field. Technical qualities consistent with Onchi's sosaku-hanga practice are present — visible woodgrain pulled into the printed surface, intentional ink unevenness functioning as expressive incident, and a restrained palette compared to the polychrome density of nishiki-e tradition. Onchi printed his own blocks throughout his career, and these single-hand impressions retain the variability he embraced.