Shinzan Tsuribashi no Zu (Picture of a
Suspension Bridge at a Steep Mountain), 1896
Mori Kansai (1814-1894) was born in Hagi, as Ishida Kōshuku. He trained with a local artist, spent a period in Edo then moved to Osaka in 1831 to study with Mori Tetsuzan. Kansai married his daughter in 1838, at which point Tetsuzan adopted him and sent him to Kyoto where he was successful as a professional artist in the Maruyama school. In Kyoto during the 60s Kansai got involved in the political activism of the Sonnō Jōi Movement. After the Meiji restoration this added to his reputation and prominent position as an artist-statesman. After the death of Shiokawa Bunrin in 1877, he presided over the activities of the Joun-sha Kyoto painting circle. Kansai was master in a variety of techniques, including ink painting, and having studied Nanga style painting all his life, his later work reflects this. It is understood that he painted directly, without any preliminary sketches. His best known pupils are Yamamoto Shunkyo and his adopted son Mori Yūzan.
This is the eleventh sheet out of twelve in a set of prints called Kansai Gafu. (Painting by Mori Kansai), pubished in 1896 by Alki Tsunesaburo (Suzando), Osaka. Kansai's adopted son Mori Yuzan copied his father's paintings and reduced their size for reproduction as woodblock prints.