The Tōkaidō highway, connecting Edo with Kyoto, was the most vital thoroughfare in Japan. Its cultural presence in pre- to early modern Japanese society led to the publication of woodblock print series, such as the widely known landscape prints by Hiroshige, that took this famous road as their theme. The prints of Utagawa Kunisada, the most sought-after woodblock print designer of his day, represent a different treatment of the Tōkaidō, in which popular kabuki actors in specific roles are paired with Tōkaidō post stations. This study discusses the phenomenon of serialization in Japanese prints outlining its marketing mechanisms and concepts. It then proceeds to unravel Kunisada's pairings of post-stations and kabuki roles, which served as puzzles for his audience to decipher. Finally, this study analyses Kunisada's methods when he invented and developed these patterns. Kunisada's Tōkaidō is a valuable visual source for the print collector, illustrating over 700 prints and it has been selected for an Honorable Mention at the 2014 IFPDA (International Fine Print Dealers Association) Book Award.

Kunisada's Tōkaidō: Riddles in Japanese Woodblock Prints

Arts & Photography

Andreas Marks

History & Criticism

Brill Hotei

Taisō Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) was the most popular woodblock artist of his day. Customers lined up on the day of publication for his prints of historical characters and beautiful women. His career, which introduced subtle psychological observation to the artistic and representational world of ukiyo-e, straddled the tumultuous late Edo and early Meiji periods. Yoshitoshi was fascinated by the supernatural, and some of his best work concerns ghosts, monsters, and charming animal transmutations. Yoshitoshi's strange tales presents two series that focus on his depictions of the weird and magical world of the transformed. The first series dates from the beginning and the second from the end of the artist's abbreviated career, encapsulating his artistic development. One Hundred Tales of Japan and China (Wakan hyaku monogatari) of 1865 is based on a game in which people told short scary ghost tales in a darkened room, extinguishing a candle as each tale ended. New Forms of Thirty-six Strange Things (Shinken sanjūrokkaisen) of 1889-92 illustrates stories from Japan's rich heritage of legends in more serene and objective ways. The book opens with a study of Japanese ghost prints and analysis of Yoshitoshi's changing treatments of the genre, and reproduces three rare paintings by the artist. This is Yoshitoshi at his most whimsical and imaginative.

Yoshitoshi's Strange Tales

Stevenson, John

Yoshijiro Urushibara: A Japanese printmaker in London is a catalogue raisonné of the work of Yoshijiro Urushibara (1889-1953), a Japanese artist and craftsman who lived and worked in London from 1910 to 1940. During his thirty years in Europe, Urushibara produced a considerable number of prints and played a major role in encouraging the production and appreciation of the colour woodcut in the Japanese manner, especially in Britain. Throughout his career Urushibara contributed to cross-cultural interactivity, collaborating with several European artists. His most famous and successful collaboration was with the British artist Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956). The authors had unique access to the artist's family archive in Tokyo and recorded and evaluated the extent of Urushibara's print production. With fully researched catalogue entries, full-colour illustrations, and illuminating biographical and contextual essays, this publication - the first of its kind in the English language - provides a comprehensive account of Urushibara's life and oeuvre.

Yoshijirō Urushibara: A Japanese Printmaker in London: A Catalogue Raisonné

Chapman, Hilary

Horner, Libby

About the Author\nAnna A. Slaczka, Ph.D. (2006), Leiden University, is Curator of South Asian Art at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She has published extensively on Hindu art and ritual, including Temple Consecration Rituals in Ancient India: Text and Archaeology (Brill, 2007).\nIn Re-envisioning Śiva Naṭarāja. A Multidisciplinary Perspective the contributors work with hitherto unexplored visual, textual, and epigraphic material and analytical techniques, presenting new insights into the dancing Śiva as icon and concept.

Re-envisioning Śiva Naṭarāja A Multidisciplinary Perspective

Religion & Spirituality

Anna A. Ślączka

Hinduism

A Brush With Animals: Japanese Painting 1700-1950

Japan has a long and rich tradition of using animal imagery in works of art. A Brush with Animals. Japanese Painting 1700-1950 gives an overview of Japanese animal painting, covering some 250 years, with an emphasis on works by artists of the naturalistic Shijô School. It illustrates the wonderful variety of animals that figure in Japanese iconography, including the 12 animals of the zodiac and many mythological creatures. The reader is thus taken on a tour through the animal kingdom, which is profusely illustrated with no less than 300 colour images. A selection of essays explains in great detail the stories and legends behind the animal imagery and provides background information on the practical aspects and social context of Japanese hanging scroll paintings. A useful tool for the collector and a delight for anyone sensitive to the beauty of Japanese art. A Brush with Animals was selected from collections of members of the Society for Japanese Arts (private and museum collections), to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Society. Many of the paintings are published here for the first time.

Schaap, Robert