Yanagawa Shigenobu Ama no Ukihashi 1830, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Complete Three Volumes in Wooden Box
Yanagawa Shigenobu Ama no Ukihashi 1830, Edo Period Japanese Shunga Harubon, Erotic Art Woodblock Ukiyoe Book, Complete Three Volumes in Wooden Box
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- United States · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $796, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
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- Character
- QuietResplendent Resplendent 8.6 of 10 ·
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Condition report
Very Good8.0 / 10
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
On the Floating Bridge of Heaven
The title recalls the bridge on which the creator gods of Japanese myth first stood, and the frontispiece opens on a robed couple above the clouds. Shigenobu, trained by Hokusai, fills the plates that follow with brilliant colour and patterned silk; complete boxed sets in three volumes are seldom met.
Best for: Collectors of Edo enpon and the Hokusai circle
Condition notes
No worm damage. Two old scorch tears at the head of the third volume, repaired, outside the printed frame and barely touching the text. General age wear and soiling, otherwise no notable damage.
Assessed from photographs and descriptionReport dated 14 November 2026
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
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A complete large-format enpon of 1830 by Yanagawa Shigenobu, pupil and son-in-law of Hokusai, kept in three volumes with its wooden box.
This piece belongs to the private room of the house and is shown to adults only.
The Piece
Ama no Ukihashi, also written Amano Ukihashi, takes its title from the Floating Bridge of Heaven, where the creator gods Izanagi and Izanami stood in the oldest Japanese myth. The frontispiece shows a robed couple on an arched bridge above the clouds, and the joke of the title is that all love begins there. It was published in Tenpo 1 (1830) as an enpon.
Yanagawa Shigenobu (1787 to 1832) trained under Hokusai and married into his family. His plates here are full-page and double-page compositions in brilliant colour: courtly robes against lacquered railings, swallows on a hanging kimono, mosquito nets, lanterns and writing tables, each intimate scene set in a carefully furnished room.
The three volumes, marked heaven, earth and man in the traditional way, rarely appear together, and fewer still keep a wooden box.
Details
- Title: Ama no Ukihashi, complete in three volumes
- Artist: Yanagawa Shigenobu, as attributed
- Published: Tenpo 1 (1830), Edo period
- Genre: Enpon (shunga picture book)
- Technique: Colour woodblock printing on Japanese paper
- Format: Obon (large format), stab-bound
- Cover size: About 25.4 x 18.2 cm (10.0 x 7.2 in)
- Covers: Blue-grey paper covers with red title slips
- Box: Wooden storage box with lid
- Made in: Japan
Measured by hand; please allow a gentle margin of about 0.5 cm (0.2 in).
Condition
- No worm damage.
- Two old scorch tears at the head of the third volume, repaired; they sit outside the printed frame and barely touch the text.
- General age wear and soiling; otherwise no notable damage.
- Coins seen on some plates were placed only for photography, and a clear stand holds the pages open; neither is part of the book.
- Every photograph is part of the description.
Condition grade B (very good) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Offered as the Edo-period edition of 1830 with plates by Yanagawa Shigenobu; date and attribution are given as recorded for the book and are not independently certified. Keep the volumes flat in their box, away from sun and damp.
Delivery from Japan
The volumes travel in their wooden box, wrapped in acid-free tissue inside a padded rigid carton, insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally. Further pieces of the kind are kept in Shunga and Hidden Arts and in our archive of woodblock prints and classical texts.
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Collectors also search: Yanagawa Shigenobu enpon · Hokusai school shunga book · boxed Edo erotic picture book
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