Eisen Keisai: Kegon Waterfall--View of One of the Three Falls (Kegon no taki--santoki no sono ikkei) (Sold)

Artist: Eisen Keisai
Title: Kegon Waterfall--View of One of the Three Falls (Kegon no taki--santoki no sono ikkei)
Series: From the Famous Places of the Nikkô Mountains (Nikko-san meisho no uchi)
Date: Mid 1840s

Three travellers on uneasy footing atop a jutting rock scramble for the best view of Kegon waterfall. One man crawls right to the edge, his closest companion grabbing onto his garments to keep him from going over. The main waterfall appears frothy rather than as a smooth curtain of water, and finds the bottom with a large amount of active splash. A smaller rivulet comes in from the right side, beneath the spectators. This is an extremely early impression, as one can see from the woodgrain visible at the top of the falls, the grain even being in the pattern of the cascade. Forrer writes that “the utsusu in the artist’s signature suggests that the waterfalls were drawn from nature rather than being copied after another source.”

Condition: Excellent impression and color; very good condition. Bottom margin trimmed, and barely discernible center fold.
Dimensions: ôban
Publisher: Yamamoto Heikichi
Literature: See “The Baur Collection” Vol I by Matthi Forrer, plate G165. (Geneva, 1994)
Seal: Censor’s seal: Watanabe Jiemon and artist’s seals “Ippitsu”
Signature: Keisai Eisen utsusu

SKU: EIS028