/category/social-historical-and-ephemera/
Utagawa YOSHITORA (Active c. 1840-1880)
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An oban with title: Furyu saya-e: oiran, “Elegant Sheath-Pictures: Oiran.”A catoptric (mirror as opposed to an oblique) anamorphic print showing a parading courtesan. These prints were meant to be viewed in conical or cylindrical mirrors placed at the bottom of the image. The flat distorted image was then seen undistorted. However, in Japan the image was viewed in the curved surface of a sword sheath. Anamorphosis was known in Europe in the early 15th century and also in China during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Published by Enshuya Matabei, c. 1845. Another impression is illustrated in Edo no asobi-e, Shinichi Inagaki, Tokyo Shoseki, 1988, plate 6. Very rare.
Fine impression. Very good colour and condition. Signed Ichimosai Yoshitora ga.
Status: Available
Unknown
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An interesting folding map showing Edo Tokyo. Sumidagawa in the East and Shinagawa in the West, all dominated by the Tokugawa Shogun’s residence at the centre, with civic information and measurements from Nihonbashi, and annual events. Dated Ox 8 (1853).
Good condition.
Status: Available
Taiso YOSHITOSHI (1839-1892)
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A complete set of six chuban prints (two-to-a-sheet) of Neko nezumi kassen, “The War of Cats and Mice.” Shows 1) Cats frightened by a toy dog. Below: A cat setting a mousetrap. 2) Cats tempted by a delicious smell. Below: Mice eating while a cat sleeps. 3) A cat with its head in a bag. Below: Mice attacked by cats. Of the utmost rarity: One other complete set in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (accession numbers 11.37779, 11.37780, 11.37781). An extremely early work published when Yoshitoshi was 20 and his first set. Published 1859 by Enshuya Hikobei. Provenance: Purchased from me in the early 1990s.
Superb impressions. Very fine colour. Album backing, otherwise fine condition. The best examples extant. Signed Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi gihitsu and Yoshitoshi giga.
Status: Sold
Katsukawa SHUN’EI (1762-1819)
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An hosoban portrait of the sumo wrestler Tanikaze Kajinosuke (1750-1795). Possibly the greatest sumo wrestler of all time. He made his debut in 1769 at the age of 19 and went on to record the longest run of 63 consecutive victories, a record that remained unbroken for 150 years. Officially recognised as the fourth yokuzuna and the first to be awarded the title in his lifetime. Published c. 1781. An uncommon subject in hosoban format. Rare.
Very good impression and colour. A small area of repaired wormage at the top, otherwise very good condition. Signed Shun’ei ga.
Status: Sold
Kitao SHIGEMASA (1739–1820)
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A chuban print showing three children. One ( centre ) playing a ko-tsuzumi; to the left a child playing a bamboo flute and on the right a small taiko being beaten. They wear aprons with images of a horse, monkey and cock. The Chinese zodiacal symbols. Possibly one of a set of four. Published c 1800. Ex collection Walter von Scheven, 1878 – 1950, and purchased by him at Altkunst, Berlin in 1929.
Superb impression: The outlines of the figures are heavily blind-printed. Very fine colour and condition. Unsigned.
Status: Sold
Shosai GINKO (FL. 1874-1897)
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A charming print showing a Japanese lady elegantly attired, western-style, standing beside a river with steamboats and foreign buildings in the background. She wears a full length coat, lace-trimmed, with colour-coordinated brolly, belt, cuffs and bow at the neck. On her head a stylish bonnet tied below the chin. From a set: Kokin meifu kagami, “A Mirror of Famous Women in Old and Modern Times.” This design shows Kosome, the daughter of Kuniya Sohei. During a boat trip around Japan in 1859 her vessel was hit by a storm and drifted until eventually arriving in Hawaii. Rescued by an American, she went on to study and become a teacher in America. The view behind her shown here obviously represents America.
Fine impression and colour with mica on the water. Light album backing and slight offsetting at top, otherwise good condition. Signed Shosai Ginko.
Status: Sold
Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)
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Attempts by various means at making ghouls and demons fit into modern society from Kyosai rakuga, “Kyosai’s Drawings for Pleasure.” A satirical take on current events and mores. Published by Sawamuraya Seikichi in 1874. A set of 15 prints was planned but only 12 are known. This design is particularly rare.
Fine impression, colour and condition. Signed Seisai Kyosai.
Status: Sold
Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)
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A school for spooks from a set Kyosai rakuga, “Kyosai’s Drawings for Pleasure.” A satirical take on current events and mores. Published by Sawamuraya Seikichi in 1874. A set of 15 prints was planned but only 12 are known. In 1874 a new system of education was introduced in Japan – even for the world of ghouls. Shoki is seen teaching the demons basic hellish terms, and the chief of the kappa instructs the ghouls on the Roman alphabet.
Fine impression, colour and condition. Signed Seisai Kyosai.
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Status: Sold
Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)
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The enlightenment of Paradise or liberation of the dead from Hell from a set Kyosai rakuga, “Kyosai’s Drawings for Pleasure.” A satirical take on current events and mores. Published by Sawamuraya Seikichi in 1874. A set of 15 prints was planned but only 12 are known. The demons from Hell get new jobs as postmen, rikisha men etc.
Fine impression, colour and condition. Signed Seisai Kyosai.
Status: Sold
Ikkansai EISHO (Fl. early 19th c.)
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A portrait of the wrestler Kuroyanagi Matsujiro, ring name Kumagatake Inosuke. Eisho was a pupil of Eishi. Published c. 1820s by Uoya Eikichi.
Fine impression, colour and condition. Signed Shunsai Eisho ga.
Status: Sold
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI ( 1797-1861 )
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A complete diptych showing the seven gods of good luck ( Shichi-fuku-ji ). Household divinities who supervised the wordly needs of man ( and woman ). The group are at the entrance of a temple and laugh at Fukurokuju’s ( the god of happiness and longevity ) discomfiture at hitting the large temple lantern with his head. Published 1847-48 by Soshuya Yohei of Nihombashi. Excessively rare: I cannot locate another impression.
Very fine impression and colour. Light album backing, otherwise fine condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi giga, “Drawn in fun.”
Status: Sold
Ichiryusai HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)
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A triptych showing a comical battle between women in old-fashioned dress with various household utensils. Published 1852 by Muraya Seijiro. Rare.
Very good impression, colour and condition. Signed Hiroshige hitsu.
Status: Sold
Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)
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The lion falling in love from a set Kyosai rakuga, “Kyosai’s Drawings for Pleasure.”A satirical take on current events and mores. A design based on Aesop’s Fables which tells of a lion falling in love with a beautiful girl and asking her to marry him. Her bemused parents set a challenge for him: to have his claws removed and teeth filed. He duly submits only to have the parents then laugh and ask him to do his worst. Published 1874 by Sawamuraya Seikichi. A set of 15 prints was planned but only 12 are known.
Fine impression and colour. Light album backing, otherwise very good condition. Signed Seisai Kyosai.
Status: Sold
Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)
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The enlightenment of Fudo Myoo – a Buddhist deity who is always depicted seated on a rock engulfed by flames. From a set Kyosai rakuga, “Kyosai’s Drawings for Pleasure.” A satirical take on current events and mores. This satirical image shows him reading a modern newspaper, his attendant Seitaka prepares meat and Kongara hangs a pot of stew in his flames. (Meat eating was being introduced.) Published 1874 by Sawamuraya Seikichi. A set of 15 prints was planned but only 12 are known.
Fine impression and colour. Light album backing, otherwise very good condition. Signed Seisai Kyosai.
Status: Sold
Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)
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The enlightenment of Paradise or liberation of the dead from Hell from a set Kyosai rakuga, “Kyosai’s Drawings for Pleasure.” A satirical take on current events and mores. The demons from Hell get new jobs as postmen, rikisha men etc. Published 1874 by Sawamuraya Seikichi. A set of 15 prints was planned but only 12 are known.
Fine impression and colour. Light album backing, otherwise very good condition. Signed Seisai Kyosai.
Status: Sold
Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)
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A school for spooks from a set Kyosai rakuga, “Kyosai’s Drawings for Pleasure.” A satirical take on current events and mores. In 1874 a new system of education was introduced in Japan – even for the world of ghouls. Shoki is seen teaching the demons basic hellish terms, and the chief of the kappa instructs the ghosts on the Roman alphabet. Published 1874 by Sawamuraya Seikichi. A set of 15 prints was planned but only 12 are known.
Fine impression and colour. Light album backing, otherwise very good condition. Signed Seisai Kyosai.
Status: Sold
Utagawa YOSHITSUNA (Active c. 1848-68)
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A triptych Asakusa Okuyama ikiningyo, “Living Dolls of Asakusa’s Okuyama.” These life-size figures were made from papier-mache with bamboo frames by Matsumoto Kisaburo from Kumamoto and were evidently amazingly life-like. The subjects were foreign strangers and Maruyama courtesans. The exhibition was in February 1855 in an area that had many sideshows. Kuniyoshi also produced prints of this and other exhibitions. Published by Murataya Ichigoro, 1855.Extremely rare.
Fine impression, colour and condition. Signed Yoshitsuna ga.
Status: Sold
Ichiryusai HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)
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A triptych showing a comic battle between wives and the second wife ( concubine ). An ancient custom: Oko uwanari uchi no. The two groups attack each other using kitchen utensils and other paraphernalia. Published by Maruya Seijiro, 8/1852.
Fine impression, colour and condition. Full size. Yellow ground. This is the first edition with three cartouches. ( For the other version, see my catalogue: 19Th Century Triptychs, Catalogue 18, 1977, no. 12. ) Signed Hiroshige fude with Hiro seal.
Status: Sold
Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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Toshiga yottemo wakai hitoda, “Although Made of the Twelve Signs of the Zodiac, He Still Looks Young.” An extremely rare print: Another impression is illustrated in Juzo Suzuki, Kuniyoshi, 1992, no. 386. Kuniyoshi also designed a number of other such heads but composed of convoluted bodies in the style of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, three hundred years earlier. The head is composed using the Rat for the eyes; Ox: hair; Tiger: eyebrows; Hare/Rabbit: nose; Dragon: birthmark; Snake: mouth; Horse: ear; Goat/Sheep: character on costume; Cock: hair; Ape/Monkey: birthmark; Dog: head; Hog/Pig: crest on back made of tusks. Published by Ibaya Sensaburo, 1847-8.
Very good impression and colour. Some creasing,soil and minor marks. Slight trimming. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi giga.
Status: Sold
Kawanabe KYOSAI (1831-1889)
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Kyosai designed two sets of these extremely rare prints showing shadow lanterns. These popular toys threw moving images, the rotating fans activated by candles which also gave the illumination. Shows figures and demons cavorting. The series title variously translated as Silhouettes of Pandemonium and Silhouettes: A Hundred Night Demons. Puiblished by Yamamura Kinzo 5/1867. I can find no other illustration of this design.
Very good impression. Two repaired tears, otherwise good condition and colour. Kyosai seal.
Status: Sold
Kobayashi KIYOCHIKA (1847-1915)
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Cats, one astonished by a painting on an easel of a rooster and chicken, the other pawing at the image and having upset a palette, throwing brushes and tubes of paint into the air. From a set of at least nine oban prints published by Matsuki c. 1879 – 81. These prints mimic imported lithographs and etchings and are exceptionally rare. There are also very misleading copies of this series.
Fine impression with gauffrage on the left cat. Fine colour. Slight centre fold, otherwise fine condition. Totally untrimmed. No known example has a signature, although other designs from the set are known with information running horizontally and with signature.
Status: Sold
Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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An uncut double chuban sheet with a title which appears to read: Yatsuatari doke komori, “Bats Blaming Each Other” but given the title “Bats Comic” by Japanese sources. A set of eight chuban prints published by Joshuya Kinzo, c. 1846. Excessively rare. The bottom sheet has an unidentified subject. Unrecorded ? And the top chuban seems to show a [ bat ] parody of the Chushingura. Unrecorded ?
Fine impressions and colour. Small backed binding holes and slight soil to corner. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.
Status: Sold
Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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An uncut double chuban sheet with a title which appears to read: Yatsuatari doke komori, “Bats Blaming Each Other” but given the title “Bats Comic” by Japanese sources. A set of eight chuban prints published by Joshuya Kinzo, c. 1846. Excessively rare. The bottom design appears to show a [ bat ] Daimyo and female [ bat ] attendants. Unrecorded ? The top chuban shows Sukeroku, illustrated no. 249 in Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Exhibition to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Birth, Japan 1996. Same impression also illustrated in Kuniyoshi, Juzo Suzuki, Tokyo 1992, pl. 435.
Fine impressions and colour. Small backed binding holes and slight soil to corner. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.
Status: Sold
Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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An uncut double chuban sheet with a title which appears to read: Yatsuatari doke komori, “Bats Blaming Each Other” but given the title “Bats Comic” by Japanese sources. A set of eight chuban prints published by Joshuya Kinzo, c. 1846. Excessively rare. The bottom design shows the stone steps at Toba. An impression illustrated in Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Exhibition to Commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s Birth, Japan 1996, no. 250. The top design appears to show a [ bat ] entertainer with a [ bat ] monkey. Unrecorded ?
Fine impressions and colour. Small backed binding holes and minor corner soil, otherwise very good condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.
Status: Sold
Katsushika HOKUSAI (1760-1849)
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Three excessively rare prints ( from a set of four; missing third panel ) showing framed pictures of zodiacal animals; working straw models; and a seiryuto ( a sort of giant halberd ) which were on view in the garden of the Kinryuzan Temple, Asakusa, Edo. The models show a Chinese woman on a white elephant with the dimensions of the figures ( eg 5 shaku 5 su’n for figure and 1 take 2 shaku for the elephant ); Emperor Komei, with measurement; the seiryuto, with measurement; and Shuso, with measurement. Published by Tsuru Kin. Of the utmost rarity: The only other impressions appear to be the three sheets ( lacking left sheet ) in the Hokusai museum in Tsuwano, Japan, illustrated in the “Human Figure” volume of a 5 volume set by Dr. Nagata and an impression of the last sheet which was in the last Christies sale, London.
Very good impression and colour. Slight edge soil and minor marks, otherwise good condition. Unsigned, but, as stated, fully catalogued by the Hokusai museum.
Status: Sold
Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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Figures with bizarre heads from a rare set of prints Tsukumono ken, Rock, paper, scissors by things “tsuku” ( a form of game song ). Published by Iba-ya Sensaburo, 1847/8.
Fine impression and colour. Small binding holes down edge, otherwise good condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.
Status: Sold
Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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Figures with bizarre heads from a rare set of prints Tsukumono ken, Rock, paper, scissors by things “tsuku” ( a form of game song ). Published by Yebi-ya Rinnosuke, 1847/8.
Fine impression and colour. Small binding holes down edge, otherwise good condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi giga.
Status: Sold
Attributed to Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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A giga print called Ue-shita-e. These designs can be viewed upside down. Depicts various faces including a frog; tengu; the great general Zhanghi in the Three Kingdoms, and the tyrant King Zhou of the Yin Dynasty. Published by Ezakiya Tatsuzo, c 1842. Another impression ( from the Museum of Paper, and attributed to Kuniyoshi ) is illustrated in Edo no Asobi-e, no.2 and back cover. Rare.
Very good impression and colour. Slight centre fold, otherwise good condition.
Status: Sold
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)
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A print with title: Kaso-zaiku, “Bamboo Basket Work”. Shows a peacock, an oni, cat, and shishi lions built of bamboo by the craftsman Naniwa ( Osaka ) Kazuda Shohichiro. An early and possibly unrecorded Kunisada print. Published by Kawaguchiya Heikichi c 1820’s.
Good impression. Slightly trimmed, backed and some fading. Signed Oju ( “ by special request” ) Kunisada ga.
Status: Sold
Ichiyusai KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
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Triptych showing the opening of the new Ryokoku Bridge which took place Hare year (1855), 11th month, 23rd day. An interesting print showing leading dignitaries of the day walking across the bridge. Print published by Iba-ya Sensaburo, 1855.
Very good impression. colour and condition. Signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga.
Status: Sold
Suiken CHIKUYOU (active late 19th century)
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Presumably a pupil of Chikanobu. An interesting triptych showing silkworm culture at the Imperial Court: Kyuchuu Yousan no zu. The women elegantly attired in European-style costumes. Published 1888.
Good impression, colour and condition. Signed Suiken Chikuyou.
Status: Sold