Category Archives: Utagawa Yoshikazu

The Fighting Spirit in Japanese Prints

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

Where are the Shadows in Japanese Prints

Utagawa Kunisada/Toyokuni III (1786-1865) Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan, 1831. An unusual feature of Japanese woodblock prints, one often overlooked by experts and by the casual ‘reader’, is the unsettling absence of shadows. In western drawing and painting shadows form the very … Continue reading

Posted in ghosts, Japanese Art, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, ukiyo-e, Uncategorized, Utagawa Yoshikazu, Woodblock print | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Tale of the Tengu – Yoshitoshi’s Debt to Kuniyoshi

Toshidama Gallery are celebrating the work of Taiso Yoshitoshi (1839 – 1892) this month with a show of twenty-one of his woodblock prints. One of the best pieces in the exhibition is Ushiwaka Maru learns Martial Arts From Sojobo, King … Continue reading

Posted in japanese woodblock prints, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Tengu, ukiyo-e art, Uncategorized, Ushiwaka Maru, Utagawa Yoshikazu, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Army beneath the Waves

We’re showing two prints in the current exhibition at the Toshidama Gallery which commemorate the battle of Dan-no-ura from 1185. This legend is part historical fact, part myth and part ghost story. Interestingly, it is also the subject of a … Continue reading

Posted in Carl Sagan, ghosts, japanese woodblock prints, ukiyo-e art, Utagawa Yoshikazu, Utagawa Yoshitsuya | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments