Artist: Hiroshi Yoshida
Medium: Original Japanese Woodblock Print
Series Title: Japan
Edition: First
Date: 1937
Publisher: The Artist - Privately Published
Reference No.: Abe #222
Size: 15 -1/2 x 10 -1/4 "
Condition: Very fine
Notes:
Signed and titled in pencil, with the artist's brush signature and red chop. Jizuri seal in the upper left margin.
This image captures the serene atmosphere of Takinoo Shrine in Nikko, Japan. Three weary pilgrims rest on stone steps beneath towering cryptomeria trees. The composition uses layers of soft color to evoke a sense of deep, heavy mist settling through the forest. This effect creates an extraordinarily calm, meditative environment throughout the work. The design is a showcase of complex printmaking, requiring 14 separate woodblocks and an astonishing 74 individual impressions (ink stampings) per print to build up its subtle tonal gradations in the texture of the trees. Yoshida also implemented a special cloth-wiping print technique (zokin-zuri) to make the stonework appear wet and aged.