Hokuju | True Depiction of the Monkey Bridge in Kai Province
昇亭北壽 Shotei Hokuju (1763–1824)
甲斐国猿橋ノ真写之図
True Depiction of the Monkey Bridge in Kai Province
1815
木版画 | 横绘大判 | 26cm x 37cm
Woodblock-print | Oban yoko -e | 26cm x 37cm
早期版次；颜色鲜艳；品相非常好；画面完整，无裁切
First edition. Fine impression, color and condition; full size
$16,500
等等，猿桥？现在是进入了鸟山明笔下的龙珠世界吗？
从江户城出发，只需步行三日便可到达位于甲斐国（今山梨县）的猿桥。这座被誉为日本三奇桥之一的桥梁是浮世绘中的常客，就连鼎鼎大名的葛饰北斋和歌川广重也曾为其画像，名气和重要性不言而喻。
本作是北斋之徒升亭北寿所绘制，其设计前卫而现代，充满着西洋式的趣味。简练的碧空上云卷云舒，两侧峭壁山体尽显北斋之风，撞色大胆、线条峻劲。其间，有一猿桥笔直横跨，临渊承天，鬼斧神工。桥上往来者有四，皆是人影如豆。由于是珍罕的早期摺印版本，桥底波浪状的流云充满了可爱的漫画感，使全作洋溢着童趣与浪漫。
值得一提的是，当今日的人们来到猿桥前，会发现原来画中那座云上之桥，不是笔直的而是弯弯的，悬高只有31米，全长仅仅31米不到，行人走在上面，也并不觉自身如豆般渺小。
但在这一刻，艺术的浪漫才真正到达了顶峰。
Here we see, quite literally, a bridge above the clouds.
The so-called “Monkey Bridge” in what was then Kai Province spans the Katsura River three days by foot from Tokyo (then Edo). It is famed as one of Japan’s Three Unusual Bridges, and was often depicted in Ukiyoe, including several times by Hiroshige.
It was said to have been built by Korean engineers in the mid-1400s, and exists today, although this one was built in the 1900s and reinforced with steel in the last century.
Hokuju, a student of Hokusai known for his modern, Western-style treatments of landscapes, went all in on this design: billowing clouds gives us distance and height, and the bridge – depicted as curving by others – is all bold straight lines. The artist creates a powerful geometric dynamic between the bridge, the almost-cubist mountains and the clouds, and sets four tiny travelers, one on horseback, on the span.
This is an early edition of this print, perhaps Hokuju’s most famous – later editions don't have the lower, billowy clouds. The color and impression is remarkably sharp.
You can visit the bridge today but, alas, it’s not as dramatic in reality as Hokuju, Hiroshige and others made it. It’s not nearly that far up in the air.
But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
昇亭北壽 Shotei Hokuju (1763–1824)
甲斐国猿橋ノ真写之図
True Depiction of the Monkey Bridge in Kai Province
1815
木版画 | 横绘大判 | 26cm x 37cm
Woodblock-print | Oban yoko -e | 26cm x 37cm
早期版次；颜色鲜艳；品相非常好；画面完整，无裁切
First edition. Fine impression, color and condition; full size
$16,500
等等，猿桥？现在是进入了鸟山明笔下的龙珠世界吗？
从江户城出发，只需步行三日便可到达位于甲斐国（今山梨县）的猿桥。这座被誉为日本三奇桥之一的桥梁是浮世绘中的常客，就连鼎鼎大名的葛饰北斋和歌川广重也曾为其画像，名气和重要性不言而喻。
本作是北斋之徒升亭北寿所绘制，其设计前卫而现代，充满着西洋式的趣味。简练的碧空上云卷云舒，两侧峭壁山体尽显北斋之风，撞色大胆、线条峻劲。其间，有一猿桥笔直横跨，临渊承天，鬼斧神工。桥上往来者有四，皆是人影如豆。由于是珍罕的早期摺印版本，桥底波浪状的流云充满了可爱的漫画感，使全作洋溢着童趣与浪漫。
值得一提的是，当今日的人们来到猿桥前，会发现原来画中那座云上之桥，不是笔直的而是弯弯的，悬高只有31米，全长仅仅31米不到，行人走在上面，也并不觉自身如豆般渺小。
但在这一刻，艺术的浪漫才真正到达了顶峰。
Here we see, quite literally, a bridge above the clouds.
The so-called “Monkey Bridge” in what was then Kai Province spans the Katsura River three days by foot from Tokyo (then Edo). It is famed as one of Japan’s Three Unusual Bridges, and was often depicted in Ukiyoe, including several times by Hiroshige.
It was said to have been built by Korean engineers in the mid-1400s, and exists today, although this one was built in the 1900s and reinforced with steel in the last century.
Hokuju, a student of Hokusai known for his modern, Western-style treatments of landscapes, went all in on this design: billowing clouds gives us distance and height, and the bridge – depicted as curving by others – is all bold straight lines. The artist creates a powerful geometric dynamic between the bridge, the almost-cubist mountains and the clouds, and sets four tiny travelers, one on horseback, on the span.
This is an early edition of this print, perhaps Hokuju’s most famous – later editions don't have the lower, billowy clouds. The color and impression is remarkably sharp.
You can visit the bridge today but, alas, it’s not as dramatic in reality as Hokuju, Hiroshige and others made it. It’s not nearly that far up in the air.
But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
昇亭北壽 Shotei Hokuju (1763–1824)
甲斐国猿橋ノ真写之図
True Depiction of the Monkey Bridge in Kai Province
1815
木版画 | 横绘大判 | 26cm x 37cm
Woodblock-print | Oban yoko -e | 26cm x 37cm
早期版次；颜色鲜艳；品相非常好；画面完整，无裁切
First edition. Fine impression, color and condition; full size
$16,500
等等，猿桥？现在是进入了鸟山明笔下的龙珠世界吗？
从江户城出发，只需步行三日便可到达位于甲斐国（今山梨县）的猿桥。这座被誉为日本三奇桥之一的桥梁是浮世绘中的常客，就连鼎鼎大名的葛饰北斋和歌川广重也曾为其画像，名气和重要性不言而喻。
本作是北斋之徒升亭北寿所绘制，其设计前卫而现代，充满着西洋式的趣味。简练的碧空上云卷云舒，两侧峭壁山体尽显北斋之风，撞色大胆、线条峻劲。其间，有一猿桥笔直横跨，临渊承天，鬼斧神工。桥上往来者有四，皆是人影如豆。由于是珍罕的早期摺印版本，桥底波浪状的流云充满了可爱的漫画感，使全作洋溢着童趣与浪漫。
值得一提的是，当今日的人们来到猿桥前，会发现原来画中那座云上之桥，不是笔直的而是弯弯的，悬高只有31米，全长仅仅31米不到，行人走在上面，也并不觉自身如豆般渺小。
但在这一刻，艺术的浪漫才真正到达了顶峰。
Here we see, quite literally, a bridge above the clouds.
The so-called “Monkey Bridge” in what was then Kai Province spans the Katsura River three days by foot from Tokyo (then Edo). It is famed as one of Japan’s Three Unusual Bridges, and was often depicted in Ukiyoe, including several times by Hiroshige.
It was said to have been built by Korean engineers in the mid-1400s, and exists today, although this one was built in the 1900s and reinforced with steel in the last century.
Hokuju, a student of Hokusai known for his modern, Western-style treatments of landscapes, went all in on this design: billowing clouds gives us distance and height, and the bridge – depicted as curving by others – is all bold straight lines. The artist creates a powerful geometric dynamic between the bridge, the almost-cubist mountains and the clouds, and sets four tiny travelers, one on horseback, on the span.
This is an early edition of this print, perhaps Hokuju’s most famous – later editions don't have the lower, billowy clouds. The color and impression is remarkably sharp.
You can visit the bridge today but, alas, it’s not as dramatic in reality as Hokuju, Hiroshige and others made it. It’s not nearly that far up in the air.
But why let the facts get in the way of a good story?
Interested in purchasing?
Please contact us.
Shotei Hokuju (1763–1824)
Was Shotei Hokuju, perhaps Hokusai’s most famous student, the stylistic father of… Pablo Picasso?
Not really, but in his uniquely conjured works, we see many hints of modern art, such as cubism and an almost abstract approach to landscapes and the humans who live within them. We also see many broader attributes of Western art, such as perspective, shadows and billowing clouds. These elements display a fertile artistic mind striving for something new. And all this is the early mid-period of Ukiyoe.
Hokuju is believed to have been born in 1763, and joined Hokusai’s studio around 1793. His most famous works – including “True Depiction of the Monkey Bridge In Kay Province” – predated the master’s most notable designs, though of course they never garnered as much fame.
This print includes Western-style clouds, and throughout his career, one example of Hokuju experimenting with Western concepts. Where he saw them is hard to determine, since they were banned in Edo-period Japan at the time, and one suspects the exposure to them was fleeting, because he didn’t quite master all the techniques, such as perspective and use of vanishing points.
But these imperfections only add to the pleasure of his work, capturing the moment when someone was happily wrestling with new ideas. He was not hugely prolific: in addition to prints, almost all of them landscapes, he designed surimono and at least one illustrated book.
Shotei Hokuju died in 1824.