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Utagawa Hirokage (active 1855-1865), also known as Ichiyusai Hirokage, was a Japanese woodblock printer living and working in the mid-19th century. He was a pupil of Utagawa Hiroshige I, and his main noteworthy work is the series <i>Edo meisho doke zukushi</i> (Joyful Events in Famous Places in Edo).
Raijin is a god of lightning, thunder and storms in the Shinto religion and in Japanese mythology. He is typically depicted as a demonic spirit beating drums to create thunder, usually with a tomoe symbol drawn on the drums.<br/><br/>

Fujin or Futen is the Japanese god of the wind and one of the eldest Shinto gods. He is generally depicted as a terrifying wizard-like demon carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders.<br/><br/>

In Japanese art, the deity is often depicted together with Raijin, the god of lightning, thunder and storms.
Toyohara Chikanobu, better known to his contemporaries as Yōshū Chikanobu, was a prolific woodblock artist of Japan's Meiji period. His works capture the transition from the age of the samurai to Meiji modernity.<br/><br/>

In 1875 (Meiji 8), he decided to try to make a living as an artist. He travelled to Tokyo. He found work as an artist for the Kaishin Shimbun. In addition, he produced <i>nishiki-e</i> artworks. In his younger days, he had studied the Kanō school of painting; but his interest was drawn to <i>ukiyo-e</i>.<br/><br/>

Like many <i>ukiyo-e</i> artists, Chikanobu turned his attention towards a great variety of subjects. His work ranged from Japanese mythology to depictions of the battlefields of his lifetime to women's fashions. As well as a number of the other artists of this period, he too portrayed kabuki actors in character, and is well-known for his impressions of the <i>mie</i> (formal pose) of kabuki productions.<br/><br/>

Chikanobu was known as a master of <i>bijinga</i>, images of beautiful women, and for illustrating changes in women's fashion, including both traditional and Western clothing. His work illustrated the changes in coiffures and make-up across time. For example, in Chikanobu's images in Mirror of Ages (1897), the hair styles of the Tenmei era, 1781-1789 are distinguished from those of the Keio era, 1865-1867.
Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (名所江戸百景), actually composed of 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-19th century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series includes many of Hiroshige's most famous prints. It represents a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.<br/><br/>

The winter group, numbers 99 through 118, begins with a scene of Kinryūzan Temple at Akasaka, with a red-on-white color scheme that is reserved for propitious occasions. Snow immediately signals the season and is depicted with particular skill: individual snowflakes drift through the gray sky, while below, on the roof of a distant temple, dots of snow are embossed for visual effect.<br/><br/>

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).
Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (名所江戸百景), actually composed of 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-19th century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series includes many of Hiroshige's most famous prints. It represents a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.<br/><br/>

The winter group, numbers 99 through 118, begins with a scene of Kinryūzan Temple at Akasaka, with a red-on-white color scheme that is reserved for propitious occasions. Snow immediately signals the season and is depicted with particular skill: individual snowflakes drift through the gray sky, while below, on the roof of a distant temple, dots of snow are embossed for visual effect.<br/><br/>

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).
Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (名所江戸百景), actually composed of 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-19th century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series includes many of Hiroshige's most famous prints. It represents a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.<br/><br/>

The series continues with summer (夏の部). Summer amusements of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Months are represented in numbers 43 through 72. Evening outings in pleasure boats on the Sumida River were taken along the many famous bridges of Edo, where endless varieties of entertainment were offered.<br/><br/>

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).
Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (名所江戸百景), actually composed of 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-19th century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series includes many of Hiroshige's most famous prints. It irepresents a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.<br/><br/>

The series continues with summer (夏の部). Summer amusements of the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Months are represented in numbers 43 through 72. Evening outings in pleasure boats on the Sumida River were taken along the many famous bridges of Edo, where endless varieties of entertainment were offered.<br/><br/>

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).
Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (名所江戸百景), actually composed of 118 woodblock landscape and genre scenes of mid-19th century Tokyo, is one of the greatest achievements of Japanese art. The series includes many of Hiroshige's most famous prints. It represents a celebration of the style and world of Japan's finest cultural flowering at the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.<br/><br/>

The series opens with spring (春の部). Scenes 1 though 42 represent the First to the Third Months, which are considered in Japan to be the spring season. Typically, early spring is marked by the festivities celebrated at the New Year, which begins the season. Blossoming plum trees are associated with the middle of spring, signifying the end of the cold weather and the beginning of the warm season.<br/><br/>

Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川 広重, 1797 – October 12, 1858) was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist, and one of the last great artists in that tradition. He was also referred to as Andō Hiroshige (安藤 広重) (an irregular combination of family name and art name) and by the art name of Ichiyūsai Hiroshige (一幽斎廣重).
‘Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’ is an ‘ukiyo-e’ series of large, color woodblock prints by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). The series depicts Mount Fuji in differing seasons and weather conditions from a variety of places and distances. It actually consists of 46 prints created between 1826 and 1833. The first 36 were included in the original publication and, due to their popularity, 10 more were added after the original publication.<br/><br/>

Mount Fuji is the highest mountain in Japan at 3,776 m (12,389 ft). An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about 100 km southwest of Tokyo. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol and icon of Japan and is frequently depicted in art and photographs. It is one of Japan's ‘Three Holy Mountains’ along with Mount Tate and Mount Haku.<br/><br/>

Fuji is nowadays frequently visited by sightseers and climbers. It is thought that the first ascent was in 663 CE by an anonymous monk. The summit has been thought of as sacred since ancient times and was forbidden to women until the Meiji Era. Ancient samurai used the base of the mountain as a remote training area, near the present-day town of Gotemba.
For most of the twentieth century, Asakusa was the major entertainment district in Tokyo. The Rokku or 'Sixth District' was famous as a theatre district, featuring famous cinemas such as the Denkikan. The area was heavily damaged by US bombing raids during World War II, particularly the March 1945 firebombing of Tokyo. The area was rebuilt after the war, but has now been surpassed by Shinjuku and other colorful areas in the city, in its role as a pleasure district.
Hiroshige II (歌川広重 2代目, 1829 – October 21, 1869) was a designer of ukiyo-e and Japanese woodblock prints. He was born Suzuki Chinpei (鈴木鎮平?). He became a student and the adopted son of Hiroshige, then was given the artistic identity of, 'Shigenobu'. When the senior Hiroshige died in 1858, Shigenobu married his master’s daughter, Otatsu.<br/><br/>Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – January 12, 1865) (Japanese: 歌川 国貞, also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III 三代歌川豊国 ) was the most popular, prolific and 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.
Sensō-ji (金龍山浅草寺 Kinryū-zan Sensō-ji) is an ancient Buddhist temple located in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan. It is Tokyo's oldest temple, and one of its most significant.<br/><br/>

Formerly associated with the Tendai sect of Buddhism, it became independent after World War II. Adjacent to the temple is a Shinto shrine, the Asakusa Shrine.
Narazaki Eishō 楢崎 栄昭  (1864-1936). Narazaki used the art names Fuyō 扶陽 (1916-1922) and Eishō (1922-1936). He learned the art of woodblock printing from Eitoku Kobayashi (1843-1890) and while working at the Printing Bureau of the Ministry of Finance in Tokyo, he learned copperplate printing from the Director, the Italian artist Eduardo Chiossone (1833-1898).<br/><br/>

In 1916 he began making prints for a foreign clientele under the pseudonym of Fuyō.  In 1922 he assumed the name Eishō and set to work producing artistic prints.  Later, he was among the artists who worked for the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo (1885-1962) in shin hanga style. Woodblocks by Eishō published by Watanabe include 'Inside Asakusa Kannon Temple' (his best-known work), 'New Diet Building', 'Meiji Shrine', and  'Rissekiho Beach, Korea'.
Tsuchiya Koitsu was an artist of the Shin Hanga movement. Shin hanga ('new prints') was an art movement in early 20th-century Japan, during the Taishō and Shōwa periods, that revitalized traditional ukiyo-e art rooted in the Edo and Meiji periods (17th–19th century).<br/><br/>

The movement flourished from around 1915 to 1942, though it resumed briefly from 1946 through the 1950s. Inspired by European Impressionism, the artists incorporated Western elements such as the effects of light and the expression of individual moods, but focused on strictly traditional themes of landscapes (fukeiga), famous places (meishō), beautiful women (bijinga), kabuki actors (yakusha-e), and birds and flowers (kachōga).