2 — 13 April 2025

Yoshiiku became a student of Kuniyoshi towards the end of the 1840s. His earliest known work dates to 1852 when he provided the backgrounds to some actor prints by his master. His earliest works were portraits of actors, beauties, and warriors, later making satirical and humorous pieces.

A scene from the Kabuki play, the Soga Brothers’ Revenge

Published 1860

37 x 125cm

$2500 framed

A painter, printmaker and decorator of pottery and lacquer ware, his favourite subjects were genre scenes from everyday life.. His print style resembles paintings rather than of traditional woodblock printss. Gekko's designs required great skill by the carvers and printers.

The ninth Century poetess, Ono no Komachi Praying for Rain, from the series, Gekko’s Essays.

Published by Matsuki Heikichi 1893

32.4 x 21.7cm

$880

In addition to his magazine illustrations, Shōun is best known for his woodblock prints of beautiful women and a group of humorous small scale prints.. He is considered a bridge between ukiyo-e and shin-hanga (New Prints of the first half of the 20th C.) His career spans the Meiji (1868–1912), Taishō (1912–1926) and Shōwa (1926–1989) periods.

The Old Willow Tree

Published by Matsumoto , c. 1910.

Extremely rare, it was included in the exhibition, ‘A view of Nostalgic Japan and the Beauties of those Days: An Exhibition of Shoun Yamamoto’s Work”, in the Museum of Art, Kochi in 2005

11.6 x 17.4 cm

SOLD

a dragon water sprout

a paper prayer (omikaji) tied on trees at the entrance to the Toshogu Temple, Nikko c 1900

29 x 9.5 cm

$440   framed

Sekka was an important artistic figure in early twentieth-century Japan. In 1901, he was sent by the Japanese government to Glasgow where he was heavily influenced by Art Nouveau. Returning to Japan, he taught at the newly opened Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts, experimented with Western tastes, styles, and methods, and incorporated them into his otherwise traditional Rinpa-style works which accentuate the flatness of the image surface and emphasise pattern and design. From the series World of Things (Momoyo-gusa) first published in three accordion style albums by Unsodo, 1909 Unsodo subsequently re-issued individual prints in 1993 using the original carved blocks.

Egret and Wheel

34.2 x 49.5 cm

$ 1800  framed

Ohara Koson is considered by many to be the foremost 20th century designer of bird and flower prints, (kacho-e). His designs for a primarily Western market and range from haunting realism to humorous depictions of animals at play. His prints continue to be appreciated as among the finest examples of animal and botanical portraits produced by the Shin-hanga (New Prints) movement.

Pheasant beside a waterfall

Published by Daikokuya ca.1910

37 x 18.9 cm

$ 1200   framed

Night Heron

Published by Daikokuya ca.1910

37 x 18.9 cm

$1300  framed

Blue bird and Magnolia

Published by Daikokuya ca.1910

37 x 18.9 cm

$ 1200

SOLD

Fighting Monkeys

published by Adachi, c1930s

34 x 18.3 cm

$ 1250   framed

SOLD

Two carp

published by Daikokuya ca.1910

24 x 24.8cm

$ 1200   framed

Rakusan was born in Kyoto and studied art under the great Kyoto artist, Seiho Takeuchi. He spent the two years between mid 1933 and mid 1935 producing two parallel series of woodblock prints: Koushisei Print Selection and 100 Birds and Flowers. His detailed and intricately coloured woodblock prints were sold by his studio before W.W.II until around 1948.

Swallowtail Butterfly and Thistle

This design is the eleventh of thirty-six woodblock prints in Rakusan's second main sequence series, Koushisei Gasen, lit. 'Koushisei's Print Selection'

Self published, 1934 - 41

25 x 38.4 cm

$ 1100  framed

Grapes

This design is the eleventh of thirty-six woodblock prints in Rakusan's second main sequence series, Koushisei Gasen, lit. 'Koushisei's Print Selection'

Self published, 1934 - 41

25 x 38.4 cm

$1100 framed

Cypress and Dollar Bird

99 in the series, Rakuzan Kachou Gafu [100 Series] 1934 - 35

37 x 47 cm

$ 990   framed

Ikeda Zuigetsu is primarily known his studies of peony roses and on the paintings he made of the extensive orchid collection that Kaga Shotaro had bred at his Villa Oyamazaki in the 1930s

Kudzu (Pueraria lobata): Japanese Arrowroot

published c 1930

26.5 x 35cm

$880   framed

Born in 1937 in Osaka, Tadashi Osaka studied architecture and later art under Fumio Kitaoka and Waichi Hayashi. A member of Shunyo-kai Art Society and a frequent participant In the prestigious annual CWAJ (College Women of Japan) Print Show, the major exhibition event in the world of art prints in Japan.

Yuki no Machi (Snow Town)

1981 A/P

woodblock print, 48 x 52.8 cm

$ 1100 framed

Kawarazaki Shodo, born in 1889, was a painter and print designer specializing in floral subjects from Kyoto. He was associated with the publisher Unsodo, which has continued its operations to the present day. The majority of his woodblock prints were produced in the 1950s, driven by a heightened demand for handmade Japanese woodblock prints from the American occupation forces

Irises

Published by Unsodo, ca 1957

41 x 33.5 cm

$ 750 framed

Red Camelias

published by Unsodo, ca. 1950

41 x 33.5 cm

$ 750   framed

Ryohei Tanaka is world renowned for his intricate black and white etchings of rural Japan. Born in Takatsuki City outside of Osaka, Ryohei began his career studying etching under Professor Yoshio Furuno in 1963. One year later, he became a member of the Kyoto Etchers Group. In 1966, he began exhibiting with the Japan Print Association and became a full member in 1973. Ryohei won numerous awards in Japan, Europe and the United States. He is best known for his black and white etchings. Ryohei Tanaka did not imagine his compositions, but drew from reality, basing his work on sketches of the Japanese countryside. His prints are widely collected and can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Cedar: Kyoto #40, Kitayama Sugi, Nakagawa

Copperplate etching with aquatint. Kitayama Sugi is a type of cedar which grows in Nakagawa and is prized for its vertical growth pattern & used for building tea rooms and tea houses.

Ed. 30/150, 2007

33 x 24 cm

$ 1100

Kyoto 17. A Canal

Copperplate etching with aquatint,

Ed. 94/150, 1997

26 x304 cm

$ 1100

Born in 1945 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, he began studying woodblock printing with Mikumo publishing house in Kyoto at the age of 19. Early in his career he experimented with stencil dyeing and various forms of printing before focusing on woodblock printmaking in the Sosaku Hanga or “creative print” style. His work portrays a romantic, traditional vision of Japan: old buildings with umbrellas, rain, snow and wind. His mastery of intriguing angles and the intricate play of light and colour in his work distinguish Nishijima among Japanese contemporary woodblock print artists.

Morning at the Lake

Self published

Ed 12/500,

23.4 x 38 cm

$ 1500

Huge waves engulfing a threatening army.

From a series of design prints depicting costume elements, props and stage sets for Noh and Kyogen plays

published c 1930

original woodblock print

23.5 x 32.4 cm

$ 770  framed