Kai Province: Monkey Bridge

At the bottom of the picture, a blue river flows toward us in white swirls. On both sides, yellow and green rock walls rise almost vertically, and beneath the cliff at right a cave opens. The bridge spans the gap high in the upper part of the picture, with small figures seen between its railings.

Around the bridge, trees turned red spread their branches, vividly contrasting with the green of the cliffs. Through the break in the cliff at left can be seen an evening sky, a gray mountain, and a village surrounded by trees. The composition, with the viewpoint at the bottom of the gorge looking steeply up at the bridge, strongly impresses the depth of the valley.

The Saruhashi is a bridge over the gorge of the Katsura River, known for its unusual construction as a hanebashi, supported without piers by timbers projecting in multiple tiers from both banks. A famous sight on the Koshu Kaido that many travelers crossed, it was counted among the Three Marvelous Bridges of Japan.

Hiroshige traveled to Koshu in the twelfth year of Tenpo (1841) and sketched the Saruhashi. His "Koyo Saruhashi no Zu," showing the bridge by moonlight, is also well known, and in this design he chose another viewpoint, looking up from the bottom of the valley at an autumn scene. The impressions at the National Diet Library and the Tokyo National Museum have the same composition.