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Tsukioka YOSHITOSHI (1839 – 1892)
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The demon Ibaraki of Rashomon ( a gate south of the Imperial Palace in Kyoto ) visits Watanabe no Tsuna disguised as an old woman to retrieve its severed arm. This famous story relates how Watanabe cut off the arm after camping out at the gate to rid the neighbourhood of the beast. ( See below on this website for Yoshitoshi’s vertical diptych of the same subject. ) From Yoshitoshi manga, “Sketches by Yoshitoshi” from a fine set of seven diptychs. Published by Kobayashi 1885-86 ( this being 1885 ).
Very fine impression of the first edition. Fine colour. Fine condition apart from one minor mark. As originally published with no backing paper, with the margins completely untrimmed ( often cut in this set ), and plenty of space for joining. Signed Yoshitoshi ga.
Status: Sold
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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Token Gonbei using a mirror to pluck his forehead (hitai). The style became known as Token hitai. From a set: Kuniyoshi moyo shofuda tsuki genkin otoko, “Men of Ready Money with True Labels Attached, Kuniyoshi Style.” These otokodates (a word that is difficult to translate but was a chivalrous commoner, a fashionable man-about-town, street-wise and ready to assist the oppressed). Gonbei is said to have beaten a barking token (Dutch hunting dog) to death with his bare hands – thus he got his name. Published c 1845 by Iba-ya Kyubei.
Very fine impression. Fine colour. Light album backing, otherwise fine condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.
Status: Sold
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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Sasai Kyuzo Masayasu (Sakai Kyuzo Narashige) enveloped in smoke and disintegrating before a volley of musketry at the battle of the Anegawa (1570). From the set Taiheiki yeiyuden, “Heroic Stories of the Taiheiki. A history of the wars of the loyalist Nitta and Kusunoki families against the Ashikaga war-lords during the second quarter of the fourteenth century. But in fact the subject of this set of fifty prints (this being 12, but not numbered) is the civil war of the late 16th century. Censorship restrictions imposed in the 1840s prevented publishers from illustrating historical subjects from the Tensho era 1573-92 onwards, so the publishers circumvented this by slightly altering the names of the historical figures. Published 1848-9 by Yamamoto-ya Heikichi. Robinson S62.36. The best design from the set.
Fine early impression. Fine colour. Slight nibbling to left edge, otherwise very good condition. Fine impression. Fine colour. Slight trimming, otherwise very good condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.
Status: Sold
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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A poem by the Heian waka poet Fujiwara no Okikaze , one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of poetry. Shows the poet with a lantern walking along the shore of Takasago Bay past one of the famous pines, all in heavy rain. His famous poem refers to the pine. From a set Hyaku-nin isshu, “The Hundred Poets.” The series published by Yebi-Ne, 1840-2.
Fine impression. (This appears to be the first edition with the pine printed lightly in two tones.) Fine colour and condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.
Status: Sold