Torii KIYOMITSU (1735-1785)
Click here to view image full size. A large oban panel, 11.75 x 16.5 in; 29.75 x 42 cms showing three beauties playing, from the left, a shamisen, a koto, and a kokyu in an interior with hand-painted screens. A…
Japanese Prints London
Dealing in fine Japanese prints, paintings and books since 1968
Japanese Prints London
Dealing in fine Japanese prints, paintings and books since 1968
Richard Kruml
Kikugawa EIZAN (1787-1867)
Click here to view image full size. A vertican oban diptych showing a courtesan holding a letter between her teeth. This, and biting a towel, were considered highly erotic and the prelude to intimate relations. Her obi, which has a…
Kesai EISEN (1790-1848)
Click here to view image full size. An aizuri-e vertical oban diptych with touches of red and green. A response to censorship bans which were promulgated to curtail excessive extravagance. (In this case the use of multiple blocks.) The bans…
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
Click here to view image full size. A triptych showing two beauties and a maidservant lighting their way with a lantern and carrying a shamisen box. The beam of light from the lantern illuminates the foreground figures and the leaping…
Utagawa TOYOKUNI II ( TOYOSHIGE ) (1777-1835)
Click here to view image full size. A courtesan with a toothpick and playing with a cat compared to the actor Iwai Hanshiro V ( inset in a sake cup top right ). From a series Imayo bijin awase, shinsei…
Utagawa TOYOKUNI I (1769-1825)
Click here to view image full size. Shows a seated lady holding a fan compared to the actor Segawa Senjo ( previously known as Segawa Kikunojo III, inset in fan upper left ). From a series Ukiyo butai-ko Senjo-fu, “Fragrance…
Suzuki HARUNOBU (1725-1770)
Click here to view image full size. A chuban print from an untitled series showing a courtesan lying under a futon waiting for her kamuro to prepare her pipe in the adjoining room. A fusuma partially separates the two rooms…
Torii KIYOMINE ( KIYOMITSU II ) (1787-1868)
Click here to view image full size. Beauties on the beach at Kamakura with white cranes. This is an allusion or pastiche ( mitate ) of the story that Minamoto Yoritomo’s favourite amusement was flying cranes with labels attached to…
Suzuki HARUNOBU (1724-1770)
Click here to view image full size. A chuban showing the courtesan Matsukaze of the Ogi-ya House from a set of prints: Ukiyo kika, “Strange Flowers of the Floating World.” Shows the courtesan parading outside a Yoshiwara house with her…
Katsukawa SHUNCHO(Fl. c 1780-1801
Click here to view image full size. The first sheet of a triptych showing travellers on a mountain path – possibly the Tokaido Road. Published by Eijudo (Nishimuraya Yohachi), c 1790. Other impressions in the MFA Boston, acc. no. 21.5953…
Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1864)
Click here to view image full size. Natsu, “Summer” from a set f four prints Shii no ch “The Four Seasons.” A beauty holds a large umbrella against a summer storm with lightning flashing around her. Published by Kawaguchiya Uhei,…
Ikeda EISEN (1790-1848)
Click here to view image full size. Decorative paper from a series Tosei kobutsu hakkei, “Eight Favourite Things in the Modern World.” The set compares beauties with their favourite “things.” In this case paper, shown top left, while other designs…
Keisai EISEN (1790-1848)
Click here to view image full size. An amorous couple on a balcony with a large full moon. One of the three best designs from a set of twelve prints: Keisei higo, “Secret Words of a Courtesan” published c 1822-25.…
Kitagawa UTAMARO (1753-1806)
Click here to view image full size. The lovers Hinadori and Kuganosuke from a series of half-length portraits of pairs of lovers featured in joruri love-suicide plays. (Joruri were bunraku puppet dramas). Jitsu kurabe iro no minakami, “True Feelings Compared:…
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
Click here to view image full size. An aizuri-e print of the courtesan Hontsue of the Daimonjiya House in the Yoshiwara, Edo. Seated on a ledge, she holds an extremely long pipe and is compared to one of the sights…
Keisai EISEN (1790-1848)
Click here to view image full size. A winter scene with an amorous couple in a boat keeping warm beneath a huge duvet. One of the three best designs from a set of twelve prints: Keisei higo, “Secret Words of…
Kitagawa UTAMARO (1754-1806)
Click here to view image full size. A double-bust portrait of the famous courtesans Ariwara (bottom) and Usumizu of the Tsuruya House in the Yoshiwara, Edo. From a set Seiro yukun awase kagami, “Mirror of Courtesans of the Green Houses.”…
Torii KIYOTSUNE (Fl. c 1757-1779)
Click here to view image full size. A pillar print showing an amorous couple walking beside rice paddies. In the background a line of women plant rice. Kiyotsune was a pupil of Kiyomitsu and specialised in theatrical prints. Published c…
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
Click here to view image full size. Women washing cloth in the Chofu River from a set of six triptychs of the Six Tama (or Jewel, or Crystal) Rivers. Musashi no kuni Chofu Tamagawa, “Chofu Crystal River in Musashi Province.”…
Tsukioka YOSHITOSHI (1839-1892)
Click here to view image full size. Spring from a set of triptychs Zensei shiki, “The Four Seasons at their Height.” (Actually, only three designs known.) Shows beauties enjoying an outing at the Risshun Plum Garden on the first day…
Tsukioka YOSHITOSHI (1839-1892)
Click here to view image full size. Niai-so: Koka nenkan kuruwa no geisha fuzoku, “Looking suitable: the appearance of a brothel geisha of the Koka era” (1844-1848). From the set Thirty-two Aspects of Women published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, 1888. Shows…
Ichiryusai HIROSHIGE (1797-1858)
Click here to view image full size. Shows a beauty composing a letter from a set of ten prints Fukutoku gane no narikei, “Virtuous Women and the Money Tree.” Published by Aritaya Kiyoemon, c. 1847-50. The money tree branches make…
Katsukawa SHUN’EI (1762-1819)
Click here to view image full size. A parading courtesan with her two kamuro. Published c. late 1790s by Murataya Jirobei (Eiyudo). Unsigned, but the manner of drawing the courtesan’s face is typical of Shun’ei. Interestingly, another unsigned print (with…
Keisai EISEN (1790-1848)
Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Shiratama of the Sanomatsuya House in the Shin Yoshiwara seated looking into a mirror. Episode Sekidera from a Seven Komachi set: Shin Yoshiwara yugimi nana Komachi. The set based on the…
Keisai EISEN (1790-1848)
Click here to view image full size. The courtesan Efuku of the Owariya House in the Shin Yoshiwara seated at a low desk and holding a toothpick. Episode Kiyomidzu from a Seven Komachi set: Shin Yoshiwara yugimi nana Komachi. The…
Tsukioka YOSHITOSHI (1839-1892)
Click here to view image full size. Mita-so: Tempo nenkan o-kosho fuzoku, “Looking Inquisitive: The Appearance of a Maid in the Tempo Era” ( 1830 – 1844 ). From the set: Thirty-two Aspects of Women published by Tsunashima Kamekichi, 1888.…
Okumura MASANOBU (1686-1764)
Click here to view image full size. Kanzake momiji-gari, “Heating Sake with Maple Leaves.” No. 9 from a set of 12 prints, the orihon being signed on the last design. The set parodies famous plays. A samurai, wearing a basket…
Hanekawa CHINCHO (1679-1754)
Click here to view image full size. An oversized hosoban showing a parading courtesan with her kamuro and an attendant holding an umbrella. A rare arist who made few prints: Clarence Buckingham states that he was of samurai stock and…
Suzuki HARUNOBU (1724-1770)
Click here to view image full size. Shows the great beauty Ofuji at her shop, the Moto-Yanagiya, near the Kannon-do, Asakusa. She is shown grinding a powder with a mortar. A customer is seated near her smoking a pipe. In…
Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797-1861)
Click here to view image full size. Etchu Namerikawa otako, “Giant Octopuses in Namerikawa in Etchu” and sub-title Oo itai, “Ouch.” Obviously the cat’s claw being compared to the menacing tentacles of the octopus. A series of seventy prints Sankai…