Yoshitoshi: Salt Maiden at Takashi Bay

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Title: Salt Maiden at Takashi Bay 高師の浦

Series: Famous Places Along the Tokaido (Tokaido meisho fukei) Date: 1863

A salt maiden very reminiscent of Hiroshige carries buckets along the shoreline of Takashi Bay. The sky has a very western touch. She goes about her work, carrying her seawater buckets as her kimono catches in the breeze, and notes with mild curiosity the arrival of the shogun’s procession at far left, a few retainers shown kneeling and literally cropped out of the picture. This series was all about the importance of shogun Tokugawa Iemochi’s procession between Edo and Tokyo and projecting his power along the way. The shogunate collapsed within a few years, but at the time 16 artists were enlisted to work on the series. The more bold and creative ones, like Kyosai and Yoshitoshi, found ways to show very little of the procession itself. Yoshitoshi was still in his early twenties at the time.

Condition: Excellent impression and color. Very good condition. Some stains near margins and margin on right side is narrow. Dimensions: oban 35.7 x 23.6 cm Publisher: Seibundō Masakichi

Literature: See MFA for several impressions. Newland, Yoshitoshi (2011), p. 11, fig. 2; Marks, "When the Shogun...," Andon 81 (2007), #16A (53); Kubo Tsunehiko and Sons Collection Ukiyo-e Hanga (2004), #18-155. Signature: Ikkeisai Yoshitoshi ga

SKU: YOT942