Product Description

Kunisada 1 Woodblock Print Chofu Jewel River

ACategoriesrtist Utagawa Kunisada I (Toyokuni III) (Japanese 1786 – 1864)

Signed Kochoro Kunisada ga   Censor’s seal: Kiwame

The Chofu Jewel River (Chofu no Tamagawa) c1830 from a series Six Modern Jewel Like Faces (Tosei mu tamagao).  A parody on Six Jewel Rivers (Mu Tamagawa).  A young woman on a pleasure craft gazes into the distance as she enjoys a boat ride.

Genuine polychrome Woodblock print (nishiki-e) ink and colour pigment on Washi paper.  A beautifully rendered hand made woodblock print from meticulously hand carved wooden blocks utilising exactly the same traditional technique and printed on genuine Mulberry Bark Wash paper as the original  Excellent detail and colours.

Dimensions Oban Size  Approx. 15.6 x 10.7inches (39 x 26.5 cm).

Originally published c1830.  This version published mid 20th Century.

Shipping is via Australia Post and includes tracking.

Toyokuni III

also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III (三代歌川豊国); 1786 – 12 January 1865) was the most popular, prolific and also the most financially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan.  In his own time, his reputation far exceeded that of his contemporaries, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kuniyoshi.

He was born in 1786 in Honjo which is an eastern district of Edo.  His given name was Sumida Shōgorō IX (角田庄五朗), and he was also called Sumida Shōzō (角田庄蔵).

His first known print dates to the year 1807 and more full-sized prints appeared in 1809 – 1810.  By 1808 he was also illustrating woodblock print books and his popularity rapidly increased and in 1809 he was referred to in contemporary sources as the “star attraction” of the Utagawa school.  Soon after was considered as at least equal to his teacher Toyokuni in the area of book illustration.   Kunisada’s first actor portraits appeared in either 1808 or 1809.  It is known that his first bijinga series and a series of pentaptychs of urban scenes of Edo, appear simultaneously in 1809.  He was already a rising start in the EDO artistic world by 1813 and a contemporary list of the most important ukiyo-e artists places him second behind Toyokuni I.  Kunisada remained one of the “trendsetters” of the Japanese woodblock print until his death in early 1865.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunisada