Asahi Yasuhiro (Masahide): Great Sanjo Brige in the Rain

Artist: Asahi Yasuhiro (Masahide) (1900-1956)

Title: Great Sanjô Bridge in the Rain (Ohashi no ame 大橋の雨), Kyoto (Kyô Sanjô 京三條)  Date: 1939

Series: 100 Views of New Japan 新日本百景 (Shin Nihon Hyakkei)

The artist has chosen bird’s eye view of Sanjo Bridge, which spans the Kamo River and is the final station of the Tokaido Road. Rain falls straight down in silver lines, and we see the Higashiyama district of Kyoto on the opposite bank. What seems to be a trolley runs along the far bank, and a few pedestrians cross the bridge along with a motorcycle and a single automobile. The wooden bridge of old was replaced by a concrete one in 1950.

Masahide Asahi was born in Kyoto, and studied at a private art school (Kawabata Gakko) following high school. Although he worked or the Asahi Shinbun, he began exhibiting with the Nihon Sosaku Hanga Kyokai beginning in 1922. He also worked with Kishio Koizumi and others to publish several small magazines. He even traveled to Paris for the Nihon Hanga Kyokai exhibition in 1933, and visited Europe and the United States in 1936. These trips may have been related to his sponsorship by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education as an organizer of Japanese print exhibitions.

More than thirty sosaku-hanga print artists collaborated to create this series of prints, published between 1938-41, as regional conflicts eventually ignited into World War II. Only 39 were ever issued; the last 29 were edited by Maekawa Senpan. According to the Art Gallery of New South Wales website, publication of this series was stopped by the Japanese authorities during WWII who feared that the interior of Japan would become known to its enemies. This would not be surprising given the paranoia of wartime, but it is also probable that there were other factors, including limited supplies and artists conscripted into the war machine.

The series title is stamped on the right margin in red, and the name of the artists' group “Nihon Hanga Kyokai (Sen)” is stamped lower left. 

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Never framed. The artist’s name has been written in pencil lower right margin, but it is not known if this was written by the artist himself. 

Literature: British Museum collection, Carnegie Museum of Art, Art Gallery of NSW.   Dimensions: 25.8 x 32.5 cm. Signed: Asahi (あさひ)

SKU: SNH038