Under the Mannen Bridge at Fukagawa (Fukagawa Mannenbashi shita)

Catalog note / 解説

In this print Fuji appears in the far distance, viewed from under the Mannen Bridge in the Fukagawa district of Edo (Tokyo). The Manen Bridge crossed a small river that flowed into the Sumida River, visible in the middle distance. The composition owes a clear debt to Western perspective, with the gradual diminishing in size of buildings and other objects as they recede in the distance. The perspective is not, however, consistent, but reflects an imperfect borrowing of a foreign system of composition. The view of Fuji seen in this print is characteristics of many of the images in the series, in which the famous mountain appears almost as an afterthought. Hokusai produced this representative…