Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock, “Burst of Light” (descriptive title), 1845

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎), (1760–1849).

“Burst of Light” (descriptive title only), 1845, woodblock from the album, “The Life of Shakyamuni Illustrated” (aka 釈迦御一代記図会巻六; “Shaka goichidaiki zue kan roku”; “La vie de Bouddha”), volume 4 (of 6 volumes), published in Kyoto by Echigoya Jihei (越後屋治兵衛).

For those who share my interest in the substance of the text accompanying the illustrations to this album, I used the Google Translate tool to translate into English some of the lines. Whether the translation is accurate or not I cannot verify, but the following translation of a sample of the Japanese text may give a hint at the flavour of the discussion: “The prince and the prince open their hearts to the wisdom of each sword. Soon, the sky is leaked three times, and the child's hometown is separated” (see https://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16028coll7/id/18810/rec/1).

Woodblock printed in black ink on fine washi paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 24 x 28.6 cm; (image borderline) 17.7 x 25.5 cm.

Condition: a well-printed impression showing no sign of wear to the printing plate in excellent/near pristine condition with no tears, holes, abrasions, significant stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this fascinating woodblock print showing Hokusai’s creative vision of what I believe to be a burst of sunlight over an aerial view of a landscape (my apologies if I am wrong), for the total cost of AU$239 (currently US$176.96/EUR149.12/GBP128.34 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries.

If you are interested in purchasing this startlingly inventive original woodblock print by the almost legendary Hokusai, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold