Makura bridge

Makura-bashi spans the Kita-Jikkengawa canal near the Sumida River in Tokyo's Honjo-Mukojima district, an area central to Fujimaki's documented subject matter. The bridge, whose name translates as "Pillow Bridge," sits within the Shitamachi neighborhoods Fujimaki returned to repeatedly during his short working life. As a [sosaku-hanga](/glossary/sosaku-hanga) ("creative print") work, the print would have been designed, carved, and printed by Fujimaki himself, in keeping with the movement's rejection of the traditional [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) division of labor between designer, carver, and printer. Bridge subjects in 1930s sosaku-hanga typically emphasize structural geometry, the relationship between span and water, and the working-class character of the surrounding district rather than the picturesque vantages of earlier [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e). Fujimaki's Shitamachi prints from this period record neighborhoods that would be heavily damaged in the 1945 firebombings, giving surviving impressions documentary as well as artistic value within his small body of work.