“Yahagi Bridge at Okazaki on the Tōkaidō”
This woodblock print with ink and color on paper is by the Japanese Edo artist, Katsushika Hokusai, from 1827 to 1830. It is titled “Yahagi Bridge at Okazaki on the Tōkaidō”, or “東海道岡崎矢はぎのはし”.
This piece is one from a series that Hokusai created titled Remarkable Views of Bridges in Various Provinces. In this collection, he created images of eleven unusual bridges throughout Japan.
In this piece, a large number of people are seen crossing the arched bridge. Some are on horseback, some are pushing carts, and others are pedestrians, crossing the bridge on foot. Archers can be seen in the background below the bridge, practicing at the target visible on the left. Umbrellas and draped clothes are seen in the foreground, standing in the sun to dry.
The Yahagi Bridge which spans the Yahagi River, is located within the city of Okazaki. It was first built in 1601 but has been destroyed multiple times from floods. The current bridge that stands there today was built in 1951. At 1,248 feet, it was the longest bridge along the famous Tōkaidō road. This route, known as the Eastern Sea route, connected Kyoto to Edo (modern day Tokyo). It was the most important route during this period and was heavily traveled by merchants and travelers.
The Yahagi Bridge was also depicted in 1833 by the Edo artist, Utagawa Hiroshige.
This series was published by Nishimuraya Yohachi in 1834. Yohachi also published Hokusai’s very well-known series titled Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. These collections served as tourism guides to the Japanese armchair traveler that got to experience the sights of Japan through artists’ renditions.
This print of “Yahagi Bridge at Okazaki on the Tōkaidō” is currently in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in the United States. The Met has three different versions of this print in its collections.
For more on Katsushika Hokusai, please visit his short biography here.
You can find more artists to learn about here.
