Art of Ukiyoe
Fine Japanese Prints
Masterpieces and rarities, from early Ukiyoe to Shin Hanga, all guaranteed original.
Our Newest
Utagawa Hiroshige & Utagawa Hiroshige II
Harimaz-e: New Year Decorations, Rocky Island with Pines, Butterflies, Winterberry and Dried Fish(1850s)
歌川広重 & 二代目歌川広重
张交绘：正月装饰, 山水、蝶、梅擬和鱓 (1850s)
Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915)
Lumberyard at Fukagawa, from the series of One Hundred Views of Musashi
Featured Print:
When Edo Became Tokyo: A Visit with Kiyochika
There is little precedent in human history for the changes that swept Japan in the years after it was “opened” by Commodore Perry and his Black Ships in the 1850s. After 250 years with little contact with the outside world, this feudal society raced to modernize and embrace Western ways in a mad rush. In mere decades Japan joined the most powerful nations of the world.
In the halcyon days after the Shogunate fell in 1868 and the Emperor Meiji became the nation’s undisputed ruler, many of the old ways were washed away. Samurai were relieved of their status, their topknots banned. Pants and suits and Bowler hats replaced traditional clothing like kimonos. Train tracks were laid. Steamships were launched. Edo became Tokyo.
Artists were right in the middle. Ukiyoe faded as photography became popular. But the Ukiyoe artists and publishers who persevered did their best to stay relevant by embracing Western styles and forms. And chief among these was Kobayashi Kiyochika, whose early prints of Tokyo included all kinds of modern touches, like shadows, clouds and water reflections, not always successfully rendered.
And then something interesting happened.
Japanese began to hunger for the old days, even though the old days were relatively recent. Maybe modern times were too much too soon. And, interestingly, the Western travelers who flooded Japan were also interested in stereotypically nostalgic views of the pre-Perry days. So Kiyochika and his publisher turned on a dime.
My new featured print is “Lumberyard at Fukagawa” from “100 Views of Musashi Province” which was published in 1884 by Maraya Tetsujiro. This was perhaps Kiyochika’s greatest accomplishment. It is hard to imagine a more classic Japanese woodblock print concept. This series was an homage to Hiroshige’s legendary “100 Famous Views of Edo,” then 28 years in the past. Also, for unknown reasons, only 34 of this series were produced.
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Kiyochika borrowed Hiroshige’s devices -- or perhaps honored them -- but nonetheless made each print his own. They are upright oban tate-e format, with cartouches and title boxes placed as Hiroshige’s were (although these feature synthetic pigments). They almost all feature dramatic foreground elements competing with storied views in the background, as Hiroshige’s did, and they are often the same location, but with a new twist. Many are quite wonderful and creative. And many include hints of the newly arrived Westerners.
Hiroshige portrayed the lumberyard at Fukagawa several times, including here in “100 Views…” A steady snow falls in Kiyochika’s design, as it had for Hiroshige. But whereas Hiroshige put us right in the middle of slanting lumber, Kiyochika sets those enticingly intersecting straight lines in the distance and contrasts them with the snow-crusted circular umbrella of a man holding a fish in the foreground. Hiroshige put two puppies in the lower left corner. There are no puppies here.
The Fukagawa lumber yards covered hundreds of acres in a sprawling, canal-laced area East of the Sumida River. They were crucial for a city that was chiefly built of wood and had been routinely consumed by massive fires. Being set among canals was no accident: the lumber would be lashed into rafts and floated to its destination.
In Kiyochika’s time, new brick buildings were going up every day in Tokyo. But this design clearly demonstrates that wood construction remained prominent. And so this is a view unchanged from Hiroshige’s time. Thus, there is nary a Westerner nor an indication of one anywhere in the frame. Not a rickshaw (which by then had been imported), nor a telephone pole, nor a Western umbrella. It is all Japan, all the time, untouched from the faded days of Edo. And the snow falls.
Truly, history is like a soap opera, always turning.
Kiyochika’s prints are getting attention these days and rising steadily in value at auctions. This print is in exquisite condition, the printing and colors sharp and rich.
Sharon
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