Hanga
Cat on a bridge by Tadashige Ono — Japanese Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

Cat on a bridge

by Tadashige Ono

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

Description

A small genre composition centered on a cat crossing or resting on a bridge — a motif that lets Ono pair an architectural subject with an animal observation in a single frame. Cats and bridges both have long lineages in Japanese print history (Hiroshige's Asakusa Ricefields and Kuniyoshi's cat studies are touchstones), and Ono's treatment in mokuhanga reads as a creative-print reworking rather than a citation: the artist designed, cut, and printed the block himself in the sosaku-hanga manner, foregrounding the carved mark over polished nishiki-e finish. Compositions of this type typically use the bridge as a structural device — a horizontal or diagonal axis that organizes the picture plane — with the cat providing a single point of focus and scale. Expect a limited palette, visible woodgrain in flat areas, and the slightly irregular registration that distinguishes hand-pulled creative prints from commercial editions. The image fits Ono's sustained interest in everyday urban life, here distilled into a quiet, observational moment.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Cat on a bridge was created by Tadashige Ono (小野忠重).

Cat on a bridge depicts bridges and cats.