Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

1839-1892

Looking Delighted: The appearance of a present-day geisha of the Meiji Era
Series: Thirty-two Types of Women (Fuzoku sanjû-ni sô)
1888
36.9 x 224 cm

Publisher: Tsunashima Kamekichi
Literature: See Stevenson “Yoshitoshi’s Women”, plate 31, page 90.
Signature: Yoshitoshi

A young geisha has just caught a firefly between her hands, captured by Yoshitoshi at the charming moment where she has just gotten what she was after and does not quite know what to do with her prize. The night is a deep black above, a layer of mica adding to its beauty. Three fireflies are shown with their abdomens aglow, creating mini lanterns against the darkness. The beauty is wearing an open-weave silk robe that is so light that it is translucent and we see the shape of her arm beneath the fabric. She holds an uchiwa summer fan between her teeth and her right sleeve and hair strands are caught by the evening breeze. As noted by the incomparable John Stevenson in his description of this design: “The whole adds up to a delightfully fresh sensuality.” With the three-colored cartouche that indicates an early (”first”) edition.

Condition: Excellent impression and color; very good condition. With mounting remnants verso along the edges of the print

SKU: YOT913

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Utagawa Kuniyoshi

1797-1861

Kabuki actor Onoe Kikugorô III as the Cat Witch of Okabe
1847
Japanese color woodblock print triptych

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

1839-1892

Raiko Conquering the Shuten Doji Demon of Oe Mountain
1864
Japanese color woodblock print triptych

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 芳年

1839-1892

Flute Player Triptych 明治十五壬午季秋絵画共進会出品画藤原保昌月下弄笛図応需
1883
ôban triptych each sheet approx 37.5 x 25.5 cm (76.5 cm)

Yoshitoshi’s masterpiece, “The painting ‘Fujiwara Yasumasa Plays the Flute by Moonlight’, Exhibited at the National Painting Exhibition in the Autumn of 1882”. We see the poet Fujiwara no Yasumasa (958-1036) playing his flute beneath a full moon on Ichihara Moor. The bandit Hakamadare Yasusuke creeps up on him, intending to rob him of his opulent robes–however, Yasusuke is so arrested by the sound of the playing that he cannot draw his sword. The bandit is so entranced by the music and by Yasumasa’s poise that he follows Yasumasa home. Yasumasa then gifts him a robe of his own, giving the tale a surprisingly happy ending. This triptych was commissioned by the publisher Akiyama Buemon after Yoshitoshi submitted a painting of this scene to the Exhibition for the Advancement of National Painting in 1882. That painting is now in the collection of the Worcester Art Museum. Yoshitoshi’s teacher Kuniyoshi also created works with this famous subject, and Yoshitoshi designed a triptych in 1868 in his early style that looks completely different. This triptych is widely considered Yoshitoshi’s greatest woodblock print design.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. A fine layer of mica covers the entire work.
Dimensions: ôban triptych each sheet approx 37 x 25 cm
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon
Literature: See MFA, FAMSF, Smithsonian, AIC, LACMA, Philiadelphia Museum of Art. Newland, Yoshitoshi (2011), #81; Shioya, “Katsureki…,” in Ukiyo-e geijutsu 147 (2004), p. 30, fig. 1; Shibuya Kuritsu Shôtô Bijutsukan, Musha-e (2003), #27; Ing & Schaap, Beauty & Violence (1992), #43; Ukiyo-e taikei 12 (1976), #27-29. Also shown in practically every catalog on this artist.
Seal: Taiso and Yoshitoshi
Signature: zu ôju Taiso Yoshitoshi sha

SKU: YOT902

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

1839-1892

Rustic Genji 田舎源氏 (Inaka Genji)
1885

Scene from the Inaka Genji, the Genji-based novel by Ryutei Tanehiko that was published in serialized form in 1829-1842 and took Edo culture by storm. Yoshitoshi here shows the protagonist Mitsuuji (the updated Genji) and his lover Tasogare as they flee her mother’s supervision to spend the night together in an old temple. Mitsuuji has wrapped a bamboo blind around them to aid their escape; both look out nervously as the wind whips her clothes and kerchief. They are isolated on the desolate moor, surrounded by plume-grass. Their feet form a circle, echoing the circle of the blind; here they must be disoriented as they search for the light of the temple in the distance.

According to the Smithsonian website, “The implicit eroticism of this vertical diptych by Yoshitoshi led to a judgment by Meiji government censors that it was injurious to public morals. One of the objections was that one of Mitsuuji’s hands is not visible. The artist is said to have responded that if everything is depicted, the flavor is lost. Despite the controversy it aroused, this print represents a high point in Yoshitoshi’s artistic renderings of dramatic scenes in beautiful natural settings imbued with deep lyricism and human emotion.”

We see a cuckoo flying against the patterned storm clouds as streaks of rain begin to fall. A three-quarter moon shines overhead. Beautiful, early edition of this famous design, printed on rather heavy paper. Here the clouds and surroundings all have extra bokashi shading that gives richness and depth to the scene.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Tiny nibble at bottom right corner.
Dimensions: ôban vertical diptych (72 x 24.9 cm)
Publisher: Matsui Eikichi
Literature: Roger Keyes, Courage and Silence, 1983, p. 458, no. 474. Shinichi Segi, Yoshitoshi the Splendid Decadent, 1985, p. 81, no. 50; Akita Museum of Modern Art, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: The Last Ukiyo-e Artist of Genius, 1999, p. 28, no. 84; Andreas Marks, Genji’s World in Japanese Woodblock Prints, 2012, p. 153, nos. 144-145; Ota Memorial Museum of Art, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi: 120th Memorial Retrospective, 2012, p. 129, no. 192; Yuriko Iwakiri, Yoshitoshi, 2014, p. 144, no. 214.
Seal: Yoshitoshi
Signature: Ôju Yoshitoshi ga

SKU: YOT876

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Kiyoshi Saito

1907-1997

Bunraku Puppet of a Woman
ca. 1960s

What at first glance seems to be a woman in profile with a contemplative expression is in fact a bunraku puppet, her face and neck in bright white and her clothes quite voluminous. Saito’s unique use of the woodgrain and mastery of graphic impact is on evident display here. The sleeve that appears black is actually striped. Bunraku is an  Edo period art form that creates theater with dolls that are half-life-size, and are manipulated by three performers. The expertise of the puppeteers and the puppet-makers create performances that are surprisingly moving and emotional. To perform as a main puppeteer and control the movement of the head and right arm, 22 years of experience are required

Dimensions: 43 x 29.2 cm
Literature: Kiyoshi Saito Retrospective,Fukushima,1997, ill.2-162. See Cat. 93 in Rhiannon Paget’s Saitô Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening (2021), page 152.
Seal: Kiyoshi
Signature: Kiyoshi Saito (in pencil)

SKU: SAT086

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Kobayashi Kiyochika 小林清親

1847-1915

Three Geisha in One
ca. 1878

Strikingly inventive portrait of “Three Geisha: Kayo of Kyoto, Hitotsuru of Osaka, and Kokichi of Tokyo”. The theme of beauties from the three capitals dates back over two centuries in ukiyo-e, but here Kiyochika has used the device of overlapping the eyes to combine all three into a single oval portrait. The three share a single fan and hair ornament. The artist has also given the portrait the flavor of a photograph, and uses a western frame above with a Japanese poem card at right. In another unique twist, the woodblock printing mimics lithographic printing within the oval of the portrait. The poem card is a haiku that reads, “Oh to see moon and snow together in the mountain of blossoms”. The ancient theme of “snow, moon, flower” seems evident on the fan. WIth some mica evident in the upper cartouche.

Condition: Excellent impression and color. Very good condition; barely visible horizontal crease
Dimensions: ôban (36 x 24.8 cm)
Publisher: Matsuki Heikichi
Literature: Pictured in “Kiyochika: Artist of Meiji Japan” by Henry D. Smith II, figure 15, page 28.  See Smithsonian example online for the Muller example.
Signature: Kobayashi Kiyochika

SKU: KYC467

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Ohara Kōson

1877-1945

Cawing Crow 雪中の鴉 on a Snowy Branch (Oversized)
ca. 1920s-30s

A jungle crow (Corvus macrorhynchos) has been captured in mid-caw, its beak open enough for us to see its slender tongue peeking out. Beautifully printed in a painterly style, the feathers have an unusually high level of detail, even the fine ones surrounding the beak. This print was published by Nishinomiya; in the Newland catalog raisonné on this artist they have pictured the Adachi reprint of this work. With the “Made in Japan” seal verso, indicating that the work was intended for export in the late 1920s or early-to-mid 1930s. This must be the largest of Koson’s crow designs, and the artist has used the larger space of the paper very effectively. 

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: 43.7 x 27.5 cm cm
Literature: Crows, Cranes and Camellias (2001), number 140, page 142 and K5.15. See Rijksmuseum, Princeton University.. See Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.
Seal: Hanken shoyu Nishinomiya Yosaku (left margin)
Signature: Koson

SKU: KSC108T

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Utagawa Kunisada 歌川国貞

1786-1864

Yanagi (Willow) from the series A Comparison of Contemporary Flowers 當世はなくらべ (Tosei hana kurabe)
ca. 1820

From an elegant early Kunisada series that compares beautiful women to flowers. A beauty, still preparing for her day, is wiping a hair comb before putting it back into a folding container that contains hair accessories. We see a brush, scissors, pomade (?) and a large needle and thread that would have been used in securing the style or ornaments. The woman is bent over in a way that echoes the willow branch in the cartouche that is bending strongly to the left. In Japan the comparison with the willow is that it is resilient, and bends beneath the weight of heavy snow but does not break. The hairstyles that the women would have had to keep immaculate must have required a great deal of attention and upkeep. Here we get a glimpse of some of the preparation that a woman would undergo as part of her beauty routine. 

Early Kunisada prints like this one that are signed “Gototei” are considered the artist’s finest work.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition.  A hinging remnant and ink notation is verso.
Dimensions: ôban 37 x 25.2 cm
Publisher: Omiya Heihachi
Signature: Gototei Kunisada ga

SKU: KUS530

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Kawase Hasui 巴水

1883-1957

Small Boat in a Spring Shower
1920

A man in a straw jacket poles a small boat in the pond of the Kiyosumi Garden in eastern Tokyo. His stance is as upright as the falling rain on this windless day. We see pink clouds in the distance that indicate blooming cherry trees. The pine trees and other elements have been rendered in this design in a very unusual and impressionistic way. This is a rare pre-earthquake design in an unusual horizontal nagaban format, and is by far the best design in this series that features the estate of Iwasaki Yataro, the founder of Mitsubishi. It is now a public garden that was gifted to the city of Tokyo in 1932. Please note that this is the larger, original version of this work, published in 1920. There is a smaller format of this design that was published in 1934, although this is not noted in the Hotei/Brown catalogue raisonné.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: 27.2 x 48.6 cm.
Publisher: Watanabe
Literature: Hotei #49; Narazaki #49. See Carnegie Museum of Art.
Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAC049K

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Katsushika Hokusai

1760-1849

Roben Waterfall at Oyama in Sagami Province 相州大山ろうべんの瀧 (Soshu Oyama Roben no taki)
1832

Descending from the forested cliff above, Roben waterfall cascades in a smooth arc to the pool below, where pilgrims purify themselves in its icy waters. Hokusai has warmly depicted a group of such pilgrims, the men focused on the process of purifying their bodies by standing under the falls with fortitude before climbing out to dry themselves and reclaim their clothes and packs. Several of the men carry wooden swords as offerings which will presumably be offered at the Aburi Shrine that is further up Mount Oyama. We see traveling hats stacked at right with the seal of the publisher Nishimuraya Yohachi winkingly adorning the topmost one. Men here seem to be resting and conversing in a cottage, cloths hanging to dry nearby–their relaxed mien hints that they might have already visited the temple. The publisher has also snuck in his name “Ei” on the hat hanging on the fence at bottom as well as his trademark on the robe of the man dressing at lower left. This edition has been printed with a spring green rather than a lemon yellow at bottom left and in the cliffs, and the roofs are also a green-brown rather than an orange color. This impression is superior to the British museum example 1906,1220,0.558.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: ôban (37.3 x 26 cm)
Publisher: Nishimuraya Yohei (Eijudô)
Literature: See Metropolitan Museum of Art, Art Institute of Chicago, British Museum (2 examples), Honolulu Academy of Art, Legion of Honor, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Gian Carlo Calza, Hokusai: Il vecchio pazzo per la pittura, 1999, p. 344, no. V48.4. Matthi Forrer, Hokusai: Prints and Drawings, 1991, no. 45
Signature: Saki no Hokusai Iitsu hitsu (From the brush of Iitsu, the former Hokusai)

SKU: HOK088

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Kawase Hasui 巴水

1883-1957

Snow at Shin Bridge in Nikko 日光神橋の雪
1930

Nikko Shinkyo no yuki. The famous vermilion-lacquered Shin Bridge in Nikko is made even more beautiful with heavy snowfall, the pure white surroundings adding fantastic contrast. Beneath the bridge flows the Daiya river, flowing in a diagonal towards the viewer. The snowflakes are round and large, and no two are quite the same–a specialty of Hasui. The distant hills softly retreat, their outlines hazy in the increased distance, just as one would see if visiting the scene in person. The bridge is a part of Nikko Futarasan-jinja Shrine and was designated a World Heritage Site in 1999. Works published by Kawaguchi are prized for their exceptional printing quality. As this work was printed in 1930 following the separation of the publishing partners Sakai and Kawaguchi, this is the first edition of this design, with the limited edition number of 154/350 with the stamped and numbered red seal, verso. Note that this work was printed with a great deal of depth in particular; there are other first edition examples that do not have such subtle, velvety printing that adds depth, as here. Scarce in this condition. (Note that due to the popularity of this design, there are many extant reprints on the market that were published following the artist’s death. These works lack the expertise and finesse of this first edition and do not come close in comparison.)

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.  Mint.
Dimensions:  ôban 28.1 x 40.8 cm
Publisher: Kawaguchi
Literature: Hotei #213; Narazaki #Ks-12. See Kendall Brown’s “Visions of Japan: Kawase Hasui’s Masterpieces”  number 39, page 75. See MFA Boston.

Signature: Hasui

SKU: HAC213K