Shirakawa (白川)

Shirakawa, written 白川 and meaning white river, is a small stream that flows from the eastern foothills of Kyoto through the Higashiyama and Gion districts before joining the Kamogawa River near the Sanjo Bridge. The element shirakawa, however, also names several other significant geographic features in Japan, including the Shirakawa river in southern Fukushima Prefecture associated with the historic Shirakawa Barrier (Shirakawa no seki) on the northern edge of the Kanto plain, one of the three great barriers of ancient Japan, and the Shirakawa-go village complex in northern Gifu Prefecture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated for its steep-roofed gassho-zukuri farmhouses, but the present description focuses on the Kyoto Shirakawa stream, which is the referent most likely associated with the shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga prints in the typical Japanese print collection unless catalog records specifically indicate otherwise. The Kyoto Shirakawa runs along the northern edge of the historic Gion district through Gion Shirakawa, providing one of the most evocative streetscapes of central Kyoto, with willow trees overhanging the stone-paved stream banks, narrow stone bridges crossing at intervals including the small Tatsumi Bridge, and traditional wooden machiya facades lining the lanes. The stream is especially associated with the Gion Shirakawa subdistrict, which has been designated as a Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, preserving one of the most intact small-scale historic streetscapes of central Kyoto. The small Tatsumi Daimyojin shrine at the bend of the stream, dedicated to the kami of the geisha quarter, is a recurring motif in shin-hanga compositions of the area. For Japanese printmaking the Kyoto Shirakawa appears in the meisho-e tradition and prominently in the shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga treatments of Kyoto. Utagawa Hiroshige's Famous Views of Kyoto included the broader Gion district, and the stream and bridge passages of the Shirakawa appear in printed guidebook illustration of the late Edo period. Kawase Hasui produced celebrated views of the Shirakawa under snow, rain, and twilight conditions, with the willows and the wooden facades of the surrounding teahouses figuring as the principal motifs, and the Tatsumi Bridge appearing in several of his Gion compositions. Tsuchiya Koitsu, Asano Takeji, and Tokuriki Tomikichiro contributed further compositions of the stream and the surrounding district, with Tokuriki including the Shirakawa in his Kyoto-centered creative-print series across multiple decades. Where catalog records refer to the Shirakawa-go farmhouse village in Gifu Prefecture rather than the Kyoto Shirakawa, the visual character includes the steep thatched roofs of the gassho-zukuri houses against the surrounding mountains and seasonal snowfall, particularly in the work of postwar sosaku-hanga artists who treated the rural Hokuriku subjects. The visual character of the Kyoto Shirakawa in prints is built on the willow branches overhanging the stream with their long pendant leaves catching reflections, the dark water and stone embankments of the narrow channel, the lantern-lit machiya facades reflected in the water at night, the small humpbacked stone bridges and the Tatsumi Bridge, and the seasonal phenomena of cherry blossom along the banks in early April, autumn foliage of the surrounding maple, and the rain or snow that the shin-hanga artists especially exploited for atmospheric depth.

Hanga catalogues 2 prints depicting Shirakawa (白川), by 2 different artists.

Jun'ichiro Sekino and Kawase Hasui are among the 2 artists who depicted Shirakawa in our collection.