The Cloud-Hanging Bridge at Mount Gyödö, Ashikaga

Catalog note / 解説

Mount Gyödö, a mountain often climbed by mountaineering ascetics, is located north of Ashikaga in Shimotsuke Province (near the present-day city of Ashikaga in Tochigi prefecture). In this print, Hokusai presents a fantastic view of an imaginary wooden bridge. The ascetics' training halls, built on a high rock formation, are connected to a small shrine perched on an isolated crag near a bridge crossing over the gorge, which is enveloped in thick clouds. The surrealistic scene seems to justify the name Cloud-hanging Bridge. Searching for beautiful, unusual, and fantastic bridges, Hokusai likely studied old records and descriptions, from which, aided by his imagination, he recreated the Cloud…