BEAUTY OF MUSASHI (Toyohara Kunichika)

N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print
Year: 1883
Condition: very good
Size: 24,5 x 37 cm

SOLD

Description

Fine original woodblock print of vertical large oban (大判) format, a rare work taken from a series made by the artist Toyohara Kunichika (豊原国周) and entitled “Newly Woven Brocades: Beauties of Musashi” (錦織武蔵の別品), where “Musashi” is a reference to the plain that extends across the modern Tokyo.

A bijin (美人) beauty can finally relax: after hanging her kimono (着物) to ventilate it next to a blossoming cherry tree, and wearing the comfortable juban (襦袢) petticoat, she removes a first kanzashi (簪) clip to begin to let her hair down.

The precious print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), produced in December 1883 by the publisher Komiyama Shohei (小宮山昇平) and by the carver Hori Nobu (彫延), despite a right patina due to time, is in very good general condition.