Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)(川瀬 巴水) - Higashi Agano, Saitama. A tea plantation.

Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)(川瀬 巴水) - Higashi Agano, Saitama. A tea plantation.

Bushu (Saitama) Higashi Agano, watercolor, preparatory work for woodblock print published 1941.

See Kendall H. Brown - Kawase Hasui, The Complete Woodblock Prints, 2003, Amsterdam, Vol. 2, p. 521, pl. 456.

Most of Hasui's prints seem to be based on atmospheric and beautiful watercolours. These were most probably done on location however this needs more research. There exists pencil drawings in sketchbooks, which seems to be preparatory sketches either for the watercolours and/or the prints; again it is very difficult to say if these are done on the actual location. The creative process of Hasui seems shrouded in mystery, and at the moment is most anecdotal in nature and very little is known by substantiated facts. Many of the watercolours seems to have been done within a year or two of the print, however in some cases there seems to have been decades between the original work and the print version.

His watercolours are highly sought after both by Japanese institutions and collectors as well as their Western counter parts.

In the present painting Hasui uses an almost pointillistic technique in applying the watercolours. This is especially noticeable on the tea bushes were this technique helps to render depth and three dimensionality as well as well depicting the foliage the tea bushes in a natural way.

Medium: Watercolour on Japanese watercolour paper.
Signed: Hasui, sealed Kawase.
Condition: Fine color condition, unfaded. The paper is very slightly toned, a bit more towards the edges, especially along the extreme end of the deckle edges.
Size: The present watercolour is done on a daioban-sized paper. 55.6 x 40.5 cm.
Provenance: Private collection, Japan.

Illustrated: Mitsuba Museum of Showa Women University, Exhibition of prints by Kawase Hasui, a landscape printmaker loved by the world. Tokyo, 1997.

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Kawase Hasui in Wikipedia

Hashiguchi Goyō (1880-1921)(橋口五葉) - Service information brochure "Japan to London and Antwerp"

Hashiguchi Goyō (1880-1921)(橋口五葉) - Service information brochure "Japan to London and Antwerp"

Service information brochure "Japan to London and Antwerp". The brochure gives the names of agents for NYK in different countries. Conditions of passage. Distances between ports of call. Deck plans and so on. In the passenger tariff we can find a first class ticket from London to Yokohama is £60, a second class £41. If you want to upgrade to cabin #31 (the best on the boat) and traveling alone, you have to pay a 65% surcharge on your first class ticket. A "Round the World" ticket with NYK Lines would have cost you $ 510 (US Gold) (Esq. £102) if you went via New York, if instead you prefer to go via Montreal you would have saved US Gold $ 10.

Sealed: Go, on the front cover
Condition: Very good. The usual centerfold, short tear front cover right margin, center spread loose on one staple, staples slightly rusty.
Published: Nippon Yusen Kaisha.
Printer: Tokyo Printing Company.
Date: July, 1913.
Edition: 6000 copies.
Today very scarce. This is the first copy of this brochure we have handeled.

Another example is published in Hashiguchi Goyo Ten (Exhibition of Hashiguchi Goyo), Odakyu, Tokyo, 1995, p.230, ill.360.

The front cover by Hashiguchi Goyo, Lithographed by pen and brush. Probably lithographed by Goyo himself. The work is not by a professional lithographer but at the same time the line shows brilliant artistic sense, which would indicate Goyo is responsible for the lithographing.


$575

What I understand from speaking with people who traveled with the great liners in the 20s and 30s, this type of deluxe leaflet was handed over to the passenger at the actual purchase of the ticket. At least this seems to have been the case for the P&O line(Far East), the Cunard line to the US from London.


WebGoyo001

Hashiguchi Goyō (1880-1921)(橋口五葉) - A bijin looking at a bird in a cage.

Hashiguchi Goyō (1880-1921)(橋口五葉) - A bijin looking at a bird in a cage.

Kuchi-e for "Uguisu Kotoba" (Song of the bush warbler) (This is my own translation and should be taken with great caution.)

Signed: Sealed, reading "go" in kanji and a sketch of two leaves (yo).
Publisher: Juseido. Published in the magazine "Shin Fujin", 2nd year, 1st month.
Date: Meiji 45, 1st of January (1912).
Printer: Probably Toppan Printing Company.
Condition: Good, usual two fold marks, slight discolouration to flaps as usual, a few minor tears on margins, some slight foxing and discolouration, light creasing.
Impression: Fine, a rich and saturated impression.
Size: Roughly Oban sized, an over sized kuchi-e. 25.5 x 36.9 cm.
Very rare.

Another example is published in Hashiguchi Goyo Ten (Exhibition of Hashiguchi Goyo), Odakyu, Tokyo, 1995, p.214, ill. 327.

The technique for this kuchi-e is crayon lithograph. Judging the style and excellent technique of the lithograph work and the printing, the kuchi-e was most probably made by Toppan Printing Company. In 1910 Toppan introduced the best and most modern equipment available in the world. They quickly mastered the full potentials of the equipment. Toppan’s excellent lithographers managed to produced some of the best crayon lithographs ever done. This is seen especially in the works by Kitano Tsunetomi, but also Hashiguchi Goyo and many of the most famous artists of the period. Goyo made a poster for Mitsukoshi Department Store (at this time known as Mitsui Gofuku-ten). This poster became the most well known poster in Japan. The Goyo poster was a "Style" definer and widely collected. Today it is very scarce, even in very bad condition.

Goyo was together with the more well-known (in Japan) Sugiura Hisui the main designers for Gofukuten (Mitsukoshi). Most works done by them for Gofuku-ten are unsigned, sometimes one encounters Hisui’s signature mark on various works but it is very rare to find Goyo’s mark. Most often one has to relay on stylistic sensibility to separate their works.

This piece is with our paper conserver for slight conservation treatment. Delivery 14 days.

SOLD

WebGoyo002

Hashiguchi Goyo at Wikipedia

Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) (小林清親) - “Mirror of Army and Navy Heroes” The War Photographer.

Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) (小林清親) is, in my humble opinion, the most artistic interesting of the artists who depicted the Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895) and the Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905.

He produced more then 70 triptychs and multitude of single sheets designs, during the brief ten months of the Sino-Japanese War.

The above print is from the rare series “Mirror of Army and Navy Heroes”. This set paid tribute to individual heroes, who preformed their duties well in battle.

We have a good selection of Sino and Russo-Japanese war triptychs, however the single sheets tend to be much more rare then the triptychs with the exception of the single sheet series "One Hundred Laughs", these humours war propaganda prints are still not to difficult to find. However some of the triptychs by Kiyochika are exceedingly difficult to find.

A "Photo-journalist". Naval officers standing in the background.

Date: 1895 (Meiji 28), March.
Size: Oban tate-e
Signed: Kiyochika, sealed Kiyochika
Publisher: Inoue Yoshijiro.
Impression: A very fine impression. An atmospheric printing with superbly and thinly printed bokkashi in the background as well as on the deckboards in the foreground.
Condition: Fine
Colour: Fine.

Some of the other prints from this set which are available:

• "Sailor Tanaka Ichitaro" - The blinded sailor.
• "Lieutenant Manu Ganjiro of the Ninth Torpedo" - The "One man torpedo".
• About twenty more designs are available. Please inquire.
  

The above group of prints comes from a large family collection of ukiyo-e, which we bought last year in Kyoto. The prints were all Meiji period prints and collected between the late 1870s- 1908. They were all kept in the family "kura"(1). All prints from this collection are in fine condition. They have not been touched since 1908, but kept in the same chest in which the original owner placed them. Most of this collection was bought by one institution. However some were not, due to previous duplicate content. Of the remains we are offering prints from the above set for sale to our blogg readers.


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1. Kura is a special built house meant to be fire, earthquake and burglar proof. It was a very expensive structure to build. Very rich families kept their family treasures, gold, money and valuable commercial goods in the kura. If the kura contained commercial goods it was usually divided in to parts, a commercial stock part and a private part, sometimes two separate "kura" were built.

倉"kura" n: warehouse, storehouse, granary. (See the Japanese characters likeness to a house with a very strong wood frame and an entrance bridge leading up to the door. A true pictogram.)

Beneath are two links to a very informative website by Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the above war campaigns and the artists who depicted them:

• Sino-Japanese War
• Russo-Japanese War

The above website have been highly controversial. You should read the text by Professor John Dower of the history faculty and Professor Shigeru Miyagawa of linguistics and of foreign languages. Please follow this link to read about the controversy.

Tags: Japanese Photographer, Photo Journalist, Senso-e,

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On our new address we will do more frequent postings, hopefully an average of one post a week. This blogspot blog has been a testing project, we have learnt a lot from it. Most of all we need an editor as none of us are native English speakers.

To see all the artworks on this blog click HERE!

Attributed to Utagawa Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 (歌川国芳) - A small shunga (erotic print) of three English women attacking a "samurai" in exotic surroundings.

A Japanese man being overpowered by three foreign women all in a setting of exotic Western buildings, presumably meant to be London. The women are English as the picture has an inset of the English flag (not the Union Jack) and the text in the subtitle cartouche says "igirisu" - English. It is very rare to find a pre-Yokohama depiction of Englishmen printed in Edo.

The Flag of England is the St George's Cross. It seems odd an Edo period picture would carry such a detailed reference. However there was a printed hand scroll of the flags of the world published around this date 1840s-50s. There were also further painted similar hand scrolls circulated. These scrolls usually carry the flags of England (St. George’s Cross), Scotland (St. Andrew's Cross), and Ireland (St. Patrick’s Cross), and also the combination of these flags - the Union Jack.

It is the only scene of this kind and period I have seen in this format. It is not very shunga though; you just get the faintest whiff of the pubics of one of the women. However an exotic environment always seems to carry a strong sexual atmosphere.

This is not a Yokohama-e shunga (1860s) but an earlier print, published around 1850.

Size: Mamegiri-ban, 8.9 x 12.3 cm.
Condition: Fine, minimal soiling to margins.
Impression: Fine with deep blind printing, gold and silver printing, on deluxe surimono-type Hosho paper.
Date: 1845-55

Price: $ 220

Shunga (春画) - Spring Picture (an erotic art print or picture)

Eight more prints from this set by Kuniyoshi are available. Prices from $60 to $95. Very good to fine condition.

We have a large collection of 17th-19th centuary ukiyo-e shunga, Japanese woodblock printed shunga as well as shunga paintings of the Ukiyoe, Shijo and Kano school. All for sale.

Chokosai Eisho, active ca. 1780-1800 - Bijin and Bishonin, hashirae woodblock print

Hosoda Eisho (Chokosai Eisho), active ca. 1780-1800

Bijin and a young man (bishonin) doing the laundry.

Date: Ca. 1785-95
Size: Hashira-e
Signed: Eisho ga
Publisher:
Impression: Very good
Condition: Good/very good, some soiling and scuffing
Colour: Good/very good, all printed in very fugitive colours, such as yugao (dayflower) blue.
Provenance: Ex. Dr. Gerhard Pulverer collection.
It is very difficult to find hashira-e of this period in good condition as the above example.
$3300
Reserved

(If you areinterested in this or similar prints, let us know and we can try to find something)
Inventory: Hosoda Eisho 1wb, Chokosai Eisho

Ando Hiroshige (Utagawa Hiroshige I) (1797-1858) (歌川広重) - Asakusa Kinryusan, chutanzaku

Ando Hiroshige (Utagawa Hiroshige I) (1797-1858) (歌川広重)

A snow scene from the series "Set of Famous Views of the Eastern Capital", subtitle "Asakusa Kinryuzan in Snow". The series is one of the most rare of the mid period "Edo View" series.

Size: Chu-tanzaku
Signed: Hiroshige ga
Date: 1838-1842
Condition: Very good, some very light soiling on top margin and some minute wormholes repaired.
Impression: Very good
Rare

SOLD

(If interested in this or similar prints let us know and we can try to find something)
Inventory: Ando Hiroshige 1wb
http://japaneseprints.blogspot.com/search/label/Shunsho

Totoya Hokkei (1780-1850) - Night, Oiran in Yoshiwara, shikishiban surimono

Totoya (Katsushika) Hokkei (1780-1850) - Oiran

An Oiran in front of a street light on the main street of Yoshiwara. Oiran was the highest rank of the prostitutes working in the "Willow World" of Yoshiwara. A Yoshiwara oiran usually carried the obi tied on the front of the kimono.

Size: Shikishiban surimono.
Condition: Fine condition, fine colours, minute wormhole repaired on the left margin, otherwise fine.
Impression: Very fine impression, a deep black, velvet like gradation of the shadows, silver printing.
Signed: Hokkei
Date: Ca. 1820
$2450

Reserved

(If interested in this or similar prints let us know and we can try to find something)


The above image is of the surimono pre-restoration of the minute wormhole on the left. The wormhole is now restored, done by one of the most skillful paper conservators in Japan. The restoration is "invisible". The print appears trimmed in the above image, however this is due to the mount covering the edges of the print. A new image of this print will be posted later.
Inventory: Totoya Hokkei 1wb

Katsukawa Shunsho (1726-1793) (勝川春章) - The kabuki actor Arashi Sangoro II

Katsukawa Shunsho (1726-1793) (勝川春章) - The actor Arashi Sangoro II

The actor Arashi Sangoro II preformed in Edo for six seasons before September 1777, when he left for acting in Osaka and Kyoto. He seems not to have returned to the kabuki theatres in Edo.

Size: Hosoban untrimmed.
Condition: Fine, very good colours, beautiful deep oxidisation of the bridge rails, small repair top margin.
Impression: Very fine.
Signed: Shunsho zu
Date: Ca. 1770-1776, stylistically and also the writing of the signature points towards a date of the first two or three years of the 1770s. Late Meiwa or very early Annei period.
Very rare (not in Ueda/Clark - Shunsho).

Provenance: Deaccessioned from the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Metropolitan Museum seal bottom right. The validity of the deaccession has been confirmed in an email exchange between us and Masako Watanabe, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, Department of Asian Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Our sincere thanks to Dr. Richard Illing for his kind help in identifying the actor.
SOLD

Inventory: Katsukawa Shunsho 1wb

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)(是真紫田) - Surimono - Antique Ink Sticks

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) - Antique Ink Sticks

A surimono showing a bunjin's collection of antique ink sticks. 
Size: Oversized long surimono, nagaban size.
Condition: Fine, original fold marks as published.
Impression: Very fine with elaborate metal pigment and lacquer printing.
Signed: Zeshin

Sealed: Zeshin

$ 840
On hold.

We have a large selection of Shibata Zeshin’s (是真紫田) works for sale; drawings, prints, surimono and paintings.

Inventory: Shibata Zeshin 2wb

See also: Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)(是真紫田) - Surimono - Rooster, hen and chickens

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)(是真紫田) - Surimono - Rooster, hen and chickens

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) - Rooster, hen and chickens

A surimono showing a kacho-ga (birds and flower) subject.

Size: Oversized long surimono, nagaban size.
Condition: Fine, original fold marks, as published.
Impression: Fine.
Signed: Zeshin (in gold)

Sealed: Zeshin

$ 780

We have a large selection of Shibata Zeshin’s (是真紫田) works for sale; drawings, prints, surimono and paintings.

Inventory: Shibata Zeshin 1wb

See also: Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)(是真紫田) - Surimono - Antique Ink Sticks

Ota Nampo - Shokusanjin (1749-1823) (大田南畝 - 蜀山人) - Daruma, Kakemono Nikuhitsu, Sumie.

Ota Nampo - Shokusanjin (1749-1823) (大田南畝 - 蜀山人)

The Zen Buddhist patriarch Daruma (Bodhidharma) is seen from behind holding a fly-whisk. Both the painting and the poem is by Ota Nampo (Ota Nanpo). The poem above is signed Shokusanjin.

Date: First years of the 19th century.
Condition: Generally good, but some toning to the paper, it is less toned then you would imagine from the images. Some crease marks, some light soiling scuffs and stains.
Size: A hanging scroll, kakemono, Painted on paper. The mount seems to be a period mount. Later top and bottom, jikusaki (scroll knobs) later.
Signed: Shokusanjin

Ota Nampo (a.k.a. Shokusanjin) was the most influential bunjin, calligrapher, poet and writer of the late 18th cent and early 19th cent. Shokusanjin worked together with for example Hokusai, Eishi, Utamaro, Toyokuni I, and numerous other ukiyo-e artists, as well as artists from other schools. It is very difficult to find an original painting by Ota Nampo, only a handful are recorded.
The poem has no yet been read and translated.
$ 750


We have the most comprehensive collection of original calligraphies by Ota Nampo, for sale, available. We further have a large selection of original works by other poets and authors of the Edo period as well as illustrated books, paintings, calligraphies and prints.

Clicking the above images will not create an enlargement. Alternative spelling - Ota Nanpo
Inventory: Ota Nampo Shokusanjin 1wb

Japanese woodblock prints - How to make a woodblock print, Japanese style.

Making Wood Block Prints

A 5.5-minute video on Japanese style woodblock print making by the 73 years old Canadian artist Graham Scholes.

Included is also a very short scene on traditional Japanese paper making.

There are some subtle differences between Graham's technique and the traditional ukiyoe style printmaking. Hopefully we can post a video of a traditional Japanese print maker some time in the future and explain the differences.

Thank you very much Graham for producing a very good visual of woodblock print production. Thanks!

Also look at our 18th and 19th cent. Ukiyo-e and Woodblock Prints - Click HOME