Katsushika Hokusai, “Beauty Crossing a River”, 1878

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎) (1760–1849)
“Beauty Crossing a River”, 1878

This adjoined pair of original Hokusai three-colour (black, pink, and blue-grey) woodblock prints was published by Katano Tōshirō (片野東四郎) and Tōhekidō (東壁堂) in 1878 (Meiji 11). The prints are mounted as a diptych on a single sheet of washi paper, originally printed on separate pages (pages 54 and 55) within “Transmitting the Spirit, Revealing the Form of Things: Hokusai Sketchbooks” (Denshin Kaishu: Hokusai Manga, Jūgohen) (伝神開手 北斎漫画 十五編), volume 15.

The Pulverer Collection (https://pulverer.si.edu/node/774/title/1/28) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/57390) both describe this publication and offer online views of all the prints contained within.

The prints are slightly pale in tone—possibly from a later edition? —and are printed on fine washi paper on separate sheets that have been trimmed along the centre borderline. This presentation allows the two sheets, originally separate, to be viewed as a cohesive whole laid upon a single support sheet with ample margins for display. Aside from minor areas of thinness and fractures (notably on the riverbank next to the stream on the left panel and on the lower right of the right panel), the sheets are in very good condition with no stains.

Background Information:
This diptych is from the final volume of Katsushika Hokusai’s renowned 15-volume Manga series—an expansive collection originally conceived in 1812 during a trip to Nagoya. The first set of prints was published in 1814. Initially intended as reference material for Hokusai’s students, the series quickly gained popularity among the general public, eventually expanding to over 4,000 images across multiple volumes. The term “manga” can be translated as “random sketches,” encompassing scenes from everyday life, animals, landscapes, and mythological creatures.

Dimensions:

• Abutted sheets: 22.7 x 25.4 cm
• Borderline of each panel: 17.9 x 12.8 cm 

Price & Shipping:
AU$287 (approximately US$190.85 / €162.60 / £142.81), including worldwide express shipping. Please note that import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this exceptional original woodblock diptych by Katsushika Hokusai—a scene that evokes the story of two Zen monks crossing a stream, where the younger questions the elder about the morality of carrying a beautiful lady, only to be retorted by the elder: “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river hours ago. Why are you still carrying her?”—please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless purchase.

Katsushika Taito II’s woodblock book, “Ehon tsuzoku Sangokushi” (book 6, vol. 6), 1842

Katsushika Taito II (二代葛飾戴斗) (aka Kondo Ban'emon [近藤伴右衛門]; Ryusai; Toenro Hokusen) (fl.1810–1853)—Pupil of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), who granted to him the art name Taito in 1819 (biographical details for this artist provided by the British Museum)

“Ehon tsuzoku Sangokushi” (絵本通俗三国志 [Picture book popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms]), book/part 6 of volume 6 (of 75 parts bound in 15 volumes [see https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/ehon-tsuzoku-sangokushi/author/ikeda-tori/used/), 1842 (Tenpo Era [1830–1844] Edo Period), woodblock prints printed in black ink on washi paper and stab-bound (Yotsume Toji).

Note that the British Museum holds a copy of book/part 6 of volume 7 in the same series: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1979-0305-0-475-1-7.

I understand that the story illustrated in this book originated as an historical account (possibly with lots of creative invention) attributed to Luo Guanzhong (1330–1400) leading to a complete Japanese translation of the narrative in around 1690. The present version of this story, which may be from the original 1842 edition (as all the illustrations are printed in black rather than with added colour of the later 1884 edition) was very popular at the time, mindful that the story was “acclaimed as one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature” (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms#Translations).

Size: (page) 22 x 15.3 cm,

Condition: the covers to the book have abrasions and stains but the pages (apart from appropriate age-toning) are in a good condition with no significant stains.

I am selling this rare and complete volume of five double-page woodblock illustrations (and the many pages of woodblock printed text) for AU$453 (currently US$302.79/EUR273.96/GBP241.16 at the time of posting 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 important book of five double-page woodblock prints (along with the many pages of woodblock printed text)—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This book of woodblock prints has been sold

Woodblock diptych by a follower of Katsushika Hokusai, “Character Studies”, 1852

Unidentified follower of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)

“Character Studies” (descriptive title only), 1852, three-colour woodblock diptych printed in black, grey and pink on fine laid paper with the two panels abutted to create a single image related to Katsushika Hokusa’s manga ([漫画] “whimsical drawings”), backed with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 34.5 x 37.2 cm: (adjoined sheets) 19.9 x 22 cm; (image borderline of each panel) 16 x 10.2 cm.

I understand that the publication featuring this print is catalogued as no. 57067 in the Japanese “General Catalogue of National Books” (aka “Japanese Classical Books Catalogue of the Maximum Scale; “Kokusho Sōmokuroku (国書総目録)”, but I have not been successful in finding this publication using the online catalogue as a resource: https://web.archive.org/web/20051028015505/http://base4.nijl.ac.jp/~koten/. I would be VERY grateful for help as I have tried multiple times.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression showing minimal signs of wear to the printing plates. Beyond several replenished wormholes, the sheet is in a good condition with no significant stains or other issues.

I am selling this insightful set of small figure studies for AU$187 in total (currently US$124.99/EUR113.09/GBP99.55 at the time of listing this double-panel woodblock print) 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 finely executed woodblock diptych, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Unidentified follower of Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock diptych, “Solitary Faggot Bearer Crossing a Narrow Plank Bridge”, 1852

Unidentified follower of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)

“Solitary Faggot Bearer Crossing a Narrow Plank Bridge” (descriptive title only), 1852 (Kaei 5 [嘉永]), three-colour woodblock diptych printed in black, grey and pink on fine laid paper with the two panels abutted to create a single image backed with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 30 x 32.6 cm: (adjoined sheets) 18.2 x 22.3 cm; (image borderline of each panel) 16 x 10.3 cm.

I understand that the publication featuring this print is catalogued as no. 57067 in the Japanese “General Catalogue of National Books” (aka “Japanese Classical Books Catalogue of the Maximum Scale; “Kokusho Sōmokuroku (国書総目録)”, but I have not been successful in finding this publication using the online catalogue as a resource: https://web.archive.org/web/20051028015505/http://base4.nijl.ac.jp/~koten/. I would be VERY grateful for help as I have tried multiple times.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression showing minimal signs of wear to the printing plates. There are restored wormholes in the upper margin and minor flattened creases, otherwise the sheet is in an excellent condition with no significant stains.

I am selling this delicately balanced composition—note for example, the insightful placement of the portrayed subjects and how the angle of the leaning tree on the left is matched by the angle of the bundle of faggots carried by what I assume is a woodcutter—for AU$187 in total (currently US$124.99/EUR113.09/GBP99.55 at the time of listing this double-panel woodblock print) 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 very beautiful woodblock diptych, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Katsushika Hokusai’s woodblock diptych, “Octopus Attacking a Fishman with Dancer and Musicians”, 1878

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾 北斎) (1760–1849)

“Octopus Attacking a Fishman with Dancer and Musicians” (descriptive title only), 1878, diptych of colour woodblock pints of pages 34 and 35 from volume 15 in the series of fifteen volumes of Hokusai’s “Manga Jūgohen” (北斎漫画, 十五編), compiled by Katano Tōshirō (片野東四郎編輯) and published in Nagoya by Eirakuya Tōshirō (永楽屋東四郎) (fl.1813–1842) (see https://pulverer.si.edu/node/774/title/1  & https://pulverer.si.edu/node/774/title/1/18 ).

Two individual colour woodblock panels abutted to create a diptych printed in black, grey and light vermilion ink on fine washi paper laid upon a support sheet.

Size: (2 abutted sheets) 22.7 x 25.5 cm.

The British Museum offers a description of the volume in which this print features (vol. 15) as well as a online view of all the prints on thirty folded sheets (cho): https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1979-0305-0-428-14.

Condition: delicate/pale impressions trimmed (so that they may be abutted) and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The diptych is in a good condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing—note that some naturally occurring darker fibres in the paper are visible.

I am selling this diptych of original colour woodblock prints by Hokusai of an absolutely bonkers seaside scene featuring a wild dancer accompanied by two equally wild musicians seemingly oblivious to a fisherman in the foreground who is being attacked (I prefer to believe “hugged”) by an big-eyed octopus, for the total cost of AU$264 (currently US$186.93/EUR177.08/GBP1184.76 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 amazing diptych 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