Tag Archives: musha-e

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

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

Bandits, Brigands and Warlords.

Posted on September 27, 2019 by toshidama

Kuniyoshi, The 108 Heroes of the Popular Suikoden: Du Qian, the Sky Toucher, 1827 Perhaps we should look at these tremendous Japanese prints of fighting men – heroic or tragic figures… bound as they are in myth and history – … Continue reading →

Posted in Hokusai, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kuniyoshi, musha-e, Otokodate, ukiyo-e, Uncategorized, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What to Look for in a Japanese Print

Posted on May 23, 2019 by toshidama

Hiroshige Spring Rain from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tôkaidô Road, 1832 It is easy to slip into an enthusiasm, to think we know our way around a subject without standing back and taking an overview. As for early … Continue reading →

Posted in Hiroshige, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, ukiyo-e, Uncategorized, Van Gogh | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hapless and Heroic – Men in Japanese Prints

Posted on March 16, 2018 by toshidama

Kuniyoshi, Yokoyama Daizo and Otaka Tonomo, 1848 It’s hard to escape archetypes when discussing culture, whether it’s the contemporary culture that one’s a part of or whether it’s looking at a painting in a museum, or a sculpture in a … Continue reading →

Posted in japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Male Tragedy, Male Tragedy in Japanese Prints, ukiyo-e, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Warrior Sensibility in Japanese Prints

Posted on January 22, 2016 by toshidama

Kunichika, Minamoto no Yoshiie and Ino Hayata Hunting the Nue Kunisada, Narita no Shinzo The current exhibition at Toshidama Gallery is called The Warrior Sensibility in Japanese Prints. The twenty-four prints by seven artists cover the bulk of the nineteenth … Continue reading →

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Kuniyoshi’s Men

Posted on January 30, 2015 by toshidama

Kuniyoshi, 108 Suikoden – Saijinki Kwakusei The current show at the Toshidama Gallery presents twenty-four exceptional prints by Kuniyoshi. All of them have in common the primacy of the male protagonist. The male in Kuniyoshi’s world is by no means … Continue reading →

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Images of Men and Women in Japanese Woodblock Prints

Posted on May 30, 2014 by toshidama

Toshikata, Samurai and Landscape, 1887 The current exhibition at the Toshidama Gallery shows twenty-four prints of men and women, all of them from the nineteenth century. Immediately obvious is how, despite stylistic and technical development, images of men remain pretty … Continue reading →

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The Chushingura

Posted on March 14, 2014 by toshidama

Kunichika, Biographies of the Loyal Retainers Maybe cultures choose the myths that suit their times or maybe it is the myth that inexorably shapes the culture which proceeds them. Either way there can be little doubt that myth and legend … Continue reading →

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Hair of the Dog… Japanese Hairstyling in History

Posted on January 7, 2014 by toshidama

Here is a really great Japanese woodblock print… it depicts an actor playing the role of Moriguchi Kuro, a hero from the great Japanese novel Hakkenden inu no soshi no uchi  (The Story of the Eight Dog Heroes). Everything about … Continue reading →

Posted in Japanese prints, kabuki theatre, Otokodate, ukiyo-e art, Uncategorized, Ushiwaka Maru | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments