Art of Ukiyoe

Fine Japanese Prints

Masterpieces and rarities, from early Ukiyoe to Shin Hanga, all guaranteed original.


Our Newest

Hiroshi Yoshida
Canal in Venice(1925)

吉田博
威尼斯运河(1925年)

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Ito Shinsui
Miidera, from the series of Eight Views of Omi(1917)

伊東深水
近江八景之内 三井寺(1917年)

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Shotei Hokuju
True Depiction of the Monkey Bridge in Kai Province (1815)

昇亭北寿
甲斐国猿橋ノ真写之図(1815年)

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Utagawa Hiroshige
Kuzuha Sellers and Others, from the series of Views of the Flourishing Joruri District(1852)

歌川広重
浄琉璃町繁花の図 葛の葉ほか(1852年)

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Torii Kiyonaga
Third Month, from the series of Twelve Month in the Shinagawa Pleasure Quarter(1783)

鳥居清長
見南美十二候 三月 (1783年)

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Kawase Hasui ( 1883–1957)
Konjiki Hall at Hiraizumi

Featured Print:

A Master’s Last Picture

What was Hiroshige’s last design? How about Hokusai, or Utamaro?

What was the final image these great artists completed the day or the moment before they left this Earth? We will never know. We can estimate through research those which were among their final designs, sure, but identifying the exact one with any certainty is nearly impossible.

But that’s not so in the 20th Century, and it’s not so in the case of the great Kawase Hasui.

For my new featured print, I’m taking a look at Hasui’s last design -- Konjiki Hall at Hiraizumi. It was published in a small edition by Shozaburo Watanabe distributed 100 days after he died in 1957.

This example, which is in perfect condition and comes from the original blocks, dates from 1979. Like the first run, it is numbered – this is 87 out of 350. A subsequent edition with a “Heisei” seal printed after 1989 also had a run of 350. Numbering prints was one of many elements borrowed from Western print makers after Japan was “opened.”

The Konjiki-dō – or “The Golden Hall” -- is a small building that is part of the Chūson-ji temple in the town of Hiraizumi in Iwate Prefecture in northern Japan. It’s still there and gives the visitor a sense of what this storied compound looked like in 1124, when it was completed. The steps leading up to it are just as Hasui portrayed them.

The temple was included in the World Natural and Cultural Heritage List in 2011. In the Golden Hall, 31 statues are designated as national treasures.

Hasui started work on this design on May 14, 1957. He was already seriously ill. After Hasui completed the first draft on May 31, Watanabe put the print into production, with all the elements in place by September 3.

But Hasui died on November 27, age 74, before publication. Thus, Watanabe arranged for Hasui’s wife to distribute the print on the 100th day after the great artist’s death.

  • Hasui lived through decades of unprecedented upheaval and war in Japan, never having veered from this passion for art and his beloved homeland. Indeed, his prints constitute a remarkable visual record of what Japan was like during his lifetime, both before World War II and after. (As do his watercolors, some of which just sold at remarkably high prices at Bonham’s in NYC last week.)

    Looking at this design, which features so many of Hasui’s classic elements – a famous site in a Japan, quieted by a steady snowfall – one cannot help but think that his mortality was in the forefront of his thoughts.

    A lone pilgrim with a walking stick ascends the second set of steps leading up to the building. The palette is a somber mix of browns and grays and blues. Snow piles up around him, softening the hard geometric lines of the stone steps. Is he lost in thought thinking back on his life, on his victories and losses, his successes and failures, his loves won and missed? Hopefully, he is content, proud of all he accomplished and gave to the world.

    Night has fallen. Is it the eternal night?


Please mail, phone, Wechat or WhatsApp me. I'm happy to answer any questions. I’m also happy to send additional photographs.

This is only a limited selection of our prints.

To see more, please contact me.

如果您有兴趣购买版画,请通过邮件、电话、微信或WhatsApp与我联系,我将非常乐意回答任何相关品相问题。

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