This very rare woodblock is “Tokyo Kinkou Hakkei; Gyotoku Imaibashi no Shinshu” from the series, “Eight Views in the Suburbs of Tokyo” by Shiro Kasamatsu. Published by Watanabe in 1939, it has the rare Watanabe square gift seal on the lower-left corner of the image, typically denoting either a highest-quality printing to be given as a gift, or one of the first issues of the printing… either way, a rarity, especially when it is lacking any other publisher mark.
Incredibly subtle gradations of color, coupled with its lack of black keyblock lines, add to the beauty of this woodblock print and its treatment of atmosphere and mood.
The Woodblock Print
This oban-sized woodblock is in very fine to excellent condition with only the most minor of flaws. Good color compared to others of this printing, no flaws in the color or discolorations. Minor toning in the margins and verso, a small bit of tape residue on the verso. Watanabe gift seal in the lower left corner of the image.
About the Artist
Shiro Kasamatsu (ç¬ ćťľ 紫浪, 1898-1991) was a Japanese engraver and print maker trained and excelling in the Shin-Hanga and SĹŤsaku-Hanga styles of woodblock printing.
Shiro was born in Tokyo in 1898, and was apprenticed at the age of 13 to Kaburagi Kiyokata (1878–1973), a traditional master of bijin-ga. Kasamatsu however took an interest in landscape and was given the pseudonym “Shiro” by his teacher. Kasamatsu made woodblock prints for the publisher ShĹŤzaburĹŤ Watanabe from 1919 until the late 1940s. All of the earlier woodblocks were destroyed in a fire in Watanabe’s print shop following the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Around 50 prints were published by Watanabe by the late 1940s. Kasamatsu began to partner with Unsodo in Kyoto from the 1950s and produced nearly 102 prints by 1960. He also began to print and publish on his own in the SĹŤsaku-Hanga style, producing nearly 80 SĹŤsaku-Hanga prints between 1955 and 1965 (pencil signed and numbered editions).
Shiro Kasamatsu is unique within modern Japanese woodblock printmakers in that he is equally well-regarded for both his shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga prints.
