Ito Nisaburo: Sanjo Ohashi Bridge in Snow (Sold)

This pleasing composition of the famous Sanjo Ohashi Bridge in Kyoto causes a flurry of associations in the viewer. One thinks of Hiroshige, then Whistler, then back to Japan again for 20th century shin hanga. The influence of Japanese prints upon the western print world seems to have come full circle here. Our view is from the riverbank, looking up at a highly truncated view of the bridge itself. A charming red and yellow bus is glimpsed next to numerous parasol-wielding pedestrians on the bridge. The bridge itself is famous for the long-ago confrontation of Benkei and the young Yoshitsune, Ishiwakamaru. The snowflakes have been both carved in negative space and applied with an extra gofun-laden block.  Ito Nisaburó was a nihonga painter from Kyoto who studied under Tsuchida Bakusen (1887-1936) at the Kyoto City Specialist School of Painting, the forerunner of Kyoto University of Arts. Bakusen seems to have studied in Europe and when he returned from Europe he influenced many artists in his home of Kyoto.