Yoshitoshi: Station Maisaka on the Tokaido (Sold)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Title: Station Maisaka
Series: The Tokaido Road
Date: 1863

The shogun’s enormous entourage is rowed on a barge on Lake Hamana to the next station on the Tokaido, Arai. This series was commissioned by the authorities to promote the shogun’s procession from Edo to Kyoto in 1863. Sixteen of the major print artists of the time were enlisted for this large project, from the youthful Yoshitoshi to the elderly Kunisada. As usual, Yoshitoshi’s designs stand out, even though he was only in his early 20s. He has chosen an unusual perspective of a 3/4 back view, with the watercraft filling the page and towering over the surroundings. The array of fluttering banners of the various daimyo and the ornateness of the vessel all serve to reiterate the display of wealth and power behind the shogun, whose power was of course waning at this point in history, and who soon would be out of power completely. We could even look more deeply at this design and feel that it is somehow emblematic of the time of the shogun sailing off into the sunset.

Condition:Very good impression and condition. Good color (some fading of pigments).
Dimensions: ôban (34.8 x 25.3 cm)
Publisher: Kakumotoya Kinjiro
Literature: See LACMA, MFA Houston, Indianapolis Museum of Art online.
Signature: Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi ga

SKU: YOCS057