The last stop on our tour among the three classic landscapes of Japan is Amanohashidate. It is located, likewise the other two places, Matsushima and Miyajima, we visited through art, in the protected cove named Miyazu Bay and located in the northern stretch of coast of the Kyōto prefecture. According to the order established by the Neo-Confucian scholar Hayashi Gahō (1618-1680) who classified the three views, Miyazu Bay ranks second between Matsushima and Miyajima, while ideally one crosses the Japanese archipelago from the north (Miyagi prefecture) to the south (Hiroshima prefecture).
Amanohashidate consists of an isthmus of white sand that is neither myriad rocks lost in the sea, like Matsushima, nor a large island open to pilgrims, like Miyajima, but rather a thin ribbon stretched out into the ocean that connects two shores without being neither land nor island. A middle ground suspended in the water like the wire of a tightrope walker which, seen from the mountains, appears to connect the earth to the sky. It is not coincidence that its name means “bridge to the sky” or “bridge to heaven”.
The thin sandbank – it is three kilometers long and dotted with eight thousand pine trees! – was naturally formed over the millennia due to the ocean currents that pushed and shaped the sand of a river. It has in common with the above-mentioned two panoramas the aqueous medium by which it is surrounded and in which it is immersed: according to the Shintō, water has a purifying value, it is emptiness and energy for Buddhism, while, according to Daoism, it becomes soft adaptability. Another factor in common are the colors: the green of the vegetation (in particular, the pines), the blue of the sky and the sea, and the white, as it is substantially the case for the rocks of Matsushima and the sand of Miyajima. In particular, the white, elsewhere defined as a “great silence” that “is not dead, but full of potential”, and also ” the youth of nothing, or rather a nothing before the origin, before birth” (Kandinskij V.V. (1993), Lo spirituale nell’arte, edited by E. Pontiggia, Bompiani, Milan, first edition in German published in 1912, p. 66, english translation by the author of the post), is the color of emptiness and potential, as well as of snow, for the Japanese culture. It is no coincidence that among the works depicting these enchanting places in various weather conditions there are many with snow.
Amanohashidate view from Mt Moju, credits: 663highland (commons.wikimedia.org)
If people look at Amanohashidate upside down according to tradition, thus in the posture called matanozoki, then they rather see a dragon flying towards the sky because sea and sky seem to have exchanged! Furthermore, some others read the kanji of the number one (ichi), because the strip of land under examination is almost straight.
The one who follows the path, on foot or by bicycle, surrounded by the sea and wrapped in the shade of pine trees experiences the sensation of taking a walk in the ocean. Among the places of interest are the Kaisenkyo swing bridge that connects the isthmus with the mainland, the ancient Isoshimizu freshwater source that flows surrounded by the salty water of the sea, the Amanohashidate shrine where many pilgrims go to propitiate good luck in love. Other spiritual destinations are the Motoise and Manai shrines and the Chionji temple with its two-story pagoda among the oldest in Japan. By taking first the tourist boat and then the cable car it will be possible to reach the Kasamatsu park on the hill together with an enchanting view of the bay and the bridge of the gods.
Unknown Japanese, A View of Ama no Hashidate, six-panel folding screen, 17th century, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis
We begin our review with a graceful screen from the Tosa school. The view is from a bird’s eye view, as if gliding among the clouds which have been reproduced by using a precious gold leaf. The resulting effect is that of randomly distributed empty spaces in the painting. The areas that remain uncovered, thus showing the brilliant blue of the sea, are miniaturistically dotted with houses, temples, boats, and vegetation. In the distance it is even possible to see the cultivated fields in detail. Amanohashidate also appears as a cloud floating on the ocean.
Totoya Hokkei, Amanohashidate: Koshikibu no Naishi, n. 2 from Three Famous Scenes, ca. 1833, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
In the surimono under examination, the appearance of Amanohashidate as a cloud among the clouds in the fan-shaped cartouche at the top is that of a female figure dressed with many layers of cloth and trailing hair according to the custom of the Heian period (794-1185), during which the city of Kyōto experienced a particular splendor. It is a historical figure, the poet Koshikibu no Naishi (999-1025) who here wears a jūnihitoe decorated with cherry blossoms.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Ama no Hashidate in Tango Province, from the series Three Views of Japan, 1852-58
Here is the third uchiwae fan by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) depicting one of the three most famous views of Japan. Transparencies of vegetation veil the peninsula and the sea behind it, while very white sails move away towards the horizon.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Amanohashidate, ca. 1837, The Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu
While a delicate dawn envelops the mountains, a row of bright sails approaches the strip of sand across the ocean.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Amanohashidate peninsula, Tango Province, 1859, The Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI
An autumn moon, behind the flight of wild geese in formation, sometimes illuminates the sea strewn with white sails.
Maki Sozan, Amanohashidate, one from a pair of hanging scrolls, 19th century, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston
This sumi ink painting also reveals with essentiality the contours of the sandbank, the pines and the mountains that seem to merge into the light of the moon.
Sesshū Tōyō, View of Amanohashidate, ca. 1501-1506, Kyōto National Museum, Kyōto
Considerable importance in ink reproductions of landscapes in the Chinese style is attributed to Sesshū Tōyō (1420-1506). In this view of Amanohashidate, the detailed rendering of the natural scenery, with trees, houses, and the Chionji pagoda distinguishable towards the center of the painting, joins the nuanced gradations of the mountains wrapped in fog. It would be his last work, and, by the way, the only painting of a real landscape made by that author.
Ryūryūkyo Shinsai, Woman Hanging a Scroll, ca. 1800-1805, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
In the surimono in question, a woman watches over a girl while she hangs a kakemono (vertical scroll to be fixed to the wall, generally to adorn the tearoom) where the features of Amanohashidate are roughly depicted. The fact that the screen and the kimono of the older woman are respectively decorated with maple and bamboo leaves and chrysanthemum corollas, suggests the autumn season. Instead, the floral ornaments in the youngest’s hairstyle and the butterflies on her obi belt recall spring. Meanwhile, the teapot is boiling on the brazier. The poem by Senjiro Miwake reads: “Crossing the ‘Bridge to Heaven’ in the painting of Amanohashidate, the first dream of the New Year has no end” (quote taken from the museum website).
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Ama no Hashidate in Rain and Lightning, from an untitled series of landscapes, 20th century, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston
There is stormy air in Amanohashidate. In this ukiyoe print, the lightning strokes spread nervously and shine trees and mountains with intense flashes.
Kawase Hasui,
The atmospheric sensitivity of the shinhanga artists could not fail to capture the landscape of Amanohashidate in the poetry of snow. Trees, boats, and the beach are laden with a white mantle and the sea and the vegetation on the horizon almost disappear behind the thick flurry of flakes. The latter appear brushed on the print according to the traditional ukiyoe techniques, thus suggesting an influence of pointillism.
For further information on Japanese art, see Maria Teresa Lattarulo, L’arte figurativa giapponese. Fiori, bellezze, visioni. 1400-2000, Progedit, 2021, https://www.progedit.com/pro…/larte-figurativa-giapponese/ ).
https://www.lafeltrinelli.it/libri/maria-teresa-lattarulo/l-arte-figurativa-giapponese-fiori/
https://www.amazon.it/figurativa-giapponese-bellezze-visioni-1400-2000/dp/8861945198/
https://www.mondadoristore.it/arte-figurativa-giapponese-Maria-Teresa-Lattarulo/eai978886194519/
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Credits: the geographical map is the map of the Kansai Region, author T.Kambayashi (commons.wikimedia.org)