Saruhashi Bridge in Winter 1939

Koizumi Kishio created this print of Saruhashi Bridge in Winter using the woodblock technique, capturing a moment in time. Kishio was working in the early to mid-20th century, a period of significant social change in Japan. Woodblock prints have a long and storied history, one that speaks to both tradition and innovation, because this technique allowed artists to reproduce images and make them more widely accessible to the public. Woodblock prints democratized art. In “Saruhashi Bridge in Winter” the choice of subject matter is interesting. Kishio presents a solitary moment in nature, and yet this image is also deeply social. Consider the emotional weight of the work, how does this contrast with the period of modernization and westernization that Japan was experiencing during Kishio’s lifetime? This piece invites you to consider the interplay between nature and society, between individual experience and broader cultural shifts. It encapsulates something both deeply personal and universally human.