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Archive: Yoshiyuki (芳雪)

Description:
Kawasaki no watashi tsukimi kei (Moon Viewing at Kawasaki Ferry: 川崎ノ渡シ月見景); Series: Naniwa hyakkei (100 Views of Osaka: 浪花百景)
Signature:
Yoshiyuki ga
Seals:
No artist seal
Publisher:
Publisher: Ishiwa-ban; Block Cutter: horiko Itasada
Date:
Circa late 1850s - early 1860s
Format:
(H x W)
Chûban nishiki-e
25.0 x 18.3 cm
Impression:
Very good
Condition:
Very good color and condition (unbacked; very minor creases and soiling; small repaired wormhole in right margin)
Price (USD/¥):
SOLD

Inquiry (Ref #YYK02)

Comments:
Background

The landscape tradition as an independent genre was never firmly established in Kamigata printmaking as it had been in Edo, although Osaka artists frequently included abbreviated landscapes as minor motifs in their actor-print designs. Nevertheless, Yoshiykui and a few other late-period Osaka artists designed fûkei-ga (landscape prints: 風景画) in a small number of series, for the most part influenced by Hiroshige. The series Naniwa hyakkei (100 Views of Osaka: 浪花百景) most likely followed closely upon the publication in 1856-58 of Utagawa Hiroshige's Meisho Edo hyakkei ("One hundred views of the famous places in Edo").

Design

Ferry service once connected Kawasaki Village to Bizenjima located on the opposite side of the O River. The island was, in turn, connected to Osaka Castle via the Bizenjima Bridge crossing the Namazue River and by the Kyô Bridge spanning the Neya River. Bizenjima and the castle complex can be seen in Yoshiyuki's print, along with a pleasure boat transporting passengers who are enjoying a view of a full moon as they wait for seafood to be served.

Our impression is early, with bokashi ("shading off": 暈) along the contours of the boat, island, and distant shore (later impressions retain only the shading near the island). The three small cartouches at the lower right identify (R to L) the block cutter [horiko (cut by) Itasada], the publisher [Ishiwa-ban (published by Ishiwa)], and the artist [Yoshiyuki ga, drawn by Yoshiyuki)]. This is a charming moonlit scene in the Hiroshige manner, capturing a lost world. Today, the ferry service is gone and the Kawasaki Bridge carries pedestrian and bicycle trafffic across the water toward Osaka Castle.

摺り良好、色彩、保存状態共に良好(裏打ちなし、微かなシワと汚れあり、右端余白に小さい補修済みの虫穴)

References: NHT, no. 10