Kyoto, de grote brug bij Sanjo 1828 - 1835

This woodblock print, "Kyoto, de grote brug bij Sanjo", was made by Utagawa Hiroshige. Bridges, like the one dominating this image, are powerful symbols that resonate across cultures and epochs. They evoke the liminal space, a crossing between two worlds—the mundane and the spiritual, the known and the unknown. Consider the Roman Pontifex Maximus, the "greatest bridge-builder," who held the power to connect the human and divine realms. This archetype appears in other artworks, such as the many depictions of a bridge in front of mountains from Chinese landscapes, where water, mountains, and bridges together symbolize a journey. Throughout history, the bridge motif has resurfaced, evolved, and taken on new meanings, proving its enduring power as a conduit between worlds, both physical and psychological.