About This Print
Catalogue Raisonné Entry
Source: Kawase Hasui; The Complete Woodblock Prints, Kendall Brown, Amy Reigle Newland, Amsterdam, Hotei Publishing, KIT Publishers, 2003, p. 123.The Tosho shrine in Tokyo’s Ueno park is dedicated to the first Tokugawa shogun, Ieyasu (1543-1616). The shrine precinct affords a good view of the five-storeyed pagoda of the Kan’ei temple.
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Catalogue Raisonné image and entry 509 Spring dusk at the Tosho shrine, Ueno (Haru no yu (Ueno Toshogu)) Work of 1948 Hasui signature with K awase Seal Printer: Ono Gintaro (suri Ono Gintaro seal) Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo (Seal A) |
Five Story Pagoda of Kaneiji Temple
Source: Travel Japan website http://www.xs4all.nl/~daikoku/tabi/ensoku/tabi-10.htmThe Five Story Pagoda pictured in this print was formerly part of Kaneiji Temple,the temple of the Tokugawa shoguns.
Kaneiji Temple was established in 1625 by the Buddhist priest Tenkai, on the request of the Tokugawa shogun. The temple was located to the northwest of Edo Castle, a direction that was considered to be unlucky and therefore needed some spiritual protection. The temple complex was enormous, covering more than a million square meters, and possessing dozens of buildings. It was one of the most important temples of the Tendai sect, with headquarters on Mt. Hiei near Kyoto, and therefore was called the "Hiei of the East." In its glory days it was twice as large as Ueno Park today. Its buildings were almost all destroyed by fire during the short war that raged here when the shogunate fell in 1867, as some of its troops used the temple grounds to make a last stand. The rather simple, present temple buildings were brought from the Kitain Temple in Kawagoe in 1879; they stand north of the park. In the park itself, only two of the original buildings still survive: the Kiyomizudo Temple, a smaller imitation of the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, including the stage; and the Five Story Pagoda (Goju no To) standing forlornly inside Ueno Zoo.
Print Details
IHL Catalog | #71 |
Title | Spring dusk at the Tosho shrine, Ueno 春の夕(上野東照宮) Haru no yū (Ueno Tōshōgū) |
Series | |
Catalogue Raisonné | Number 509 (as listed in the Kawase Hasui; The Complete Woodblock Prints) |
Artist |
Kawase Hasui (1883-1957) |
Signature |
Hasui |
Seal | Kawase |
Publication Date | 1948 (original publication) |
Edition | Likely a later edition, but made during the artist's lifetime, without publisher's seal. According to Chris Johannesen of shinhanga.net: "This
was a heavily reprinted image, originally a Gintaro imprint. The lack
of any seal could suggest a fairly late edition." (For a full discussion of Watanabe publisher seals
see "Watanabe Publisher Marks, Seals and Editions") |
Publisher | Watanabe Shōzaburō |
Printer | Ono Gintaro |
Impression | excellent |
Colors | excellent |
Condition | excellent - minor printing/handling creases top of print and minor ink offsetting right margin |
Miscellaneous | |
Genre | shin hanga (new prints) |
Format | Oban tate-e |
H x W Paper | 15 3/8 x 10 3/8 in. (39.1 x 26.4 cm) |
H x W Image | 14 1/4 x 9 1/2 in. (36.2 x 24.1 cm) |
Collections This Print |
Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art M.2003.67.39 (no edition notation); Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston 50.2887 (unspecified edition with 6mm round type "I"seal visible on print
image) |
Reference Literature | Catalogue Raisonné: Kawase Hasui; The Complete Woodblock Prints, Kendall Brown, Amy Reigle Newland, Hotei Publishing, KIT Publishers, 2003, p.549, pl.509 |