Inui Tai | Woodblock Print

From the distant provinces, travelers in Japan have long gazed across the Akashi Strait, a narrow, fast-flowing channel between Kobe and Awaji Island. In the 7th century, the poet Kakinomoto no Hitomaro immortalized this crossing in the Manyoshu (III, 255), capturing the poignant moment between distance and home, as the isles of Yamato finally come into view. 
 
From far provinces I row the long way home,
and as I come - 
through Akashi’s straits I see
Yamato’s shores appear.
 
Centuries later, Inui Tai’s print captures the strait amid modern transformation. The bridge, whose construction was underway in January 1995, spans waters once feared for their swift currents and fog, linking land and people. That same month, on January 17, the strait lay near the epicenter of the devastating Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake - a stark reminder of nature’s enduring power.
 
Inui Tai (1929-2023)
Woodblock print
27.4 x 24.4 cm (10¾ x 9½ in.)
Papersize 33 x 31.1 cm (13 x 12¼ in.)