Category Archives: Japanese prints

The Complete Set of Hiroshige’s Hizakurige dōchū suzume, Assembled

Posted on March 21, 2022 by toshidama

This very unusual, rare print by Hiroshige is full of enigmas. The print comes from an aborted series of Tokaido Road prints illustrating the comic novels of Jippensha Ikku about the misadventures of two travellers on the Tokaido Road – … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Collector, Hiroshige, Japanese Art, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, ukiyo-e, Ukiyo-e landscape art | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Challenging Anomalies in a Kuniyoshi Landscape Print

Posted on March 21, 2022 by toshidama

An Early Impression of The Urami Waterfall at Nikko by Kuniyoshi from an Untitled Series of Views of Japan. A series of eight prints of views of Japan have been known for a long time by Kuniyoshi collectors and scholars. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art Collector, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, Kuniyoshi, ukiyo-e, Ukiyo-e landscape art | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Simple Guide To Popular Osaka Woodblock Prints

Posted on October 1, 2021 by toshidama

This very lovely Osaka woodblock print from 1839 is by a great Japanese artist called Sadamasu. One of the most frequent questions we are asked at the Toshidama Gallery is why prints produced in the city of Osaka are so … Continue reading →

Posted in Edo, Hirosada, Japanese Art, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunisada, Osaka Prints, Osaka School, ukiyo-e, Yoshitaki | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Fighting Spirit Part II at The Toshidama Gallery

Posted on August 20, 2021 by toshidama

The second part of our 2021 collection of prints that explore the fighting spirit in Japanese woodblock prints opens online on 20th August 2021. Why do people fight… why do men fight? This universal question crosses cultures and borders, crosses … Continue reading →

Posted in Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, musha-e, samurai, ukiyo-e, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Fighting Spirit in Japanese Prints

Posted on July 9, 2021 by toshidama

Japanese woodblock prints fall into a few specific genres: Warrior prints (musha-e), actor prints (yakusha-e), Beautiful Women (Bijin-ga) and landscape prints. Sometimes these categories overlap in as much as you may have a kabuki actor masquerading as a warrior in … Continue reading →

Posted in Hirosada, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunisada, musha-e, ukiyo-e, Utagawa Yoshikazu, Yokohama, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kabuki & Sugoroku at Toshidama Gallery

Posted on April 30, 2021 by toshidama

Kabuki drama and therefore the woodblock prints that derive from the performances, are populated by Heroes and Villains. It is a simplistic view of the world, an escapism similar in many respects to the contemporary gaming that owes a great … Continue reading →

Posted in Edo, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunichika, Kunisada, Sugoroku, ukiyo-e, yakusha-e | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kabuki ! – Yakusha-e in Nineteenth Century Japan

Posted on March 17, 2021 by toshidama

The new show of Japanese Woodblock Prints at The Toshidama Gallery takes as its theme this month, the vast arena of kabuki prints, known in Japan as Yakusha-e. This is a very rich area indeed. The prints in the show … Continue reading →

Posted in Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunichika, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, ukiyo-e, yakusha-e | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Four Artists of the Floating World

Posted on January 19, 2021 by toshidama

Toshidama Japanese Prints is starting 2021 with a close look at four of the leading artists of the Japanese woodblock scene. The gallery frequently shows 4 x 4 shows – exhibitions that focus on just four prints by each artist. … Continue reading →

Posted in Edo, Ichikawa Danjuro, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunichika, Kunisada, musha-e, Toyokuni I, ukiyo-e, Uncategorized, utagawa, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Life Through a Deluxe Lens

Posted on October 30, 2020 by toshidama

By the middle of the nineteenth century in Japan, an extraordinary art form had developed which had taken the basic single-colour woodblock print, (a form of wet ink relief reproduction common for centuries in Europe and Asia) and made it … Continue reading →

Posted in Chushingura, Hirosada, Ichikawa Danjuro, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunichika, Kunisada, Osaka Prints, Toyokuni III, ukiyo-e, Uncategorized, Woodblock print | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Japanese Prints and the Tradition of Story Telling

Posted on September 17, 2020 by toshidama

Complex narrative lies at the heart of traditional Japanese culture. From the very beginnings, the Japanese were devoted to the structure of sophisticated narrative. The first true novel, the 11th century Genji monogatari – “The Tale of the Genji”- is … Continue reading →

Posted in 47 Ronin, Chushingura, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunichika, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, ukiyo-e, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments