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Lot Essay
The Drum Bridge at Kameido, Edo, leads to the Tenmangu Shrine which was constructed in 1662 as a place to worship the scholar and statesman Sugawara no Michizane (845-903). With it's deeply-arched "drum bridge" and pergola covered with wisteria, the shrine was considered to be one of Edo's most scenic spots, attracting many visitors as shown in Hokusai's depiction. The present temple is a reconstruction of 1936.
The publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi commissioned this series from Hokusai and it can be reliably dated to about the spring of 1834. There are eleven prints in total known in this series - an unusual number for a print series with either ten or twelve being the norm. It has been suggested that perhaps twelve were planned, yet only eleven were made, or alternatively ten were intended, then an extra one added. See Timothy Clark (ed.), Hokusai, Beyond the Great Wave, exhibition catalogue, The British Museum, (London, 2017), p.154.
For a similar impression in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), New York, accession no. JP2947, go to:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60024876
The publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi commissioned this series from Hokusai and it can be reliably dated to about the spring of 1834. There are eleven prints in total known in this series - an unusual number for a print series with either ten or twelve being the norm. It has been suggested that perhaps twelve were planned, yet only eleven were made, or alternatively ten were intended, then an extra one added. See Timothy Clark (ed.), Hokusai, Beyond the Great Wave, exhibition catalogue, The British Museum, (London, 2017), p.154.
For a similar impression in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (The MET), New York, accession no. JP2947, go to:
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/60024876