About This Print

This print, derived from Yoshida's 1926 print Himeji Castle - Evening was published in the November, 1928 Enthronement Edition: The Japan Advertiser.  The blocks were recut for this print and printed by the Yoshida family studio in an edition of 2000 prints.  The print is described in the Japan Advertiser as follows and the artist's biography is also provided, as reproduced below.

Enthronement Edition: The Japan Advertiser  P. 5

Enthronement Edition: The Japan Advertiser  P. 178

Enthronement Edition: The Japan Advertiser

Brief History of The Japan Advertiser

Founded in 1905, The Japan Advertiser — an English-language newspaper later acquired by The Japan Times in 1940 - was the most influential English language newspaper in East Asia.  The Japan Advertiser provided a newssource for not only the expatriate community but for Japaneseseeking a clear and consistent source of news.  The sale to The Japan Times is said to have been done under duress, placed on the American owner by the Japanese militarists.

The Enthronement Edition

Canvas case with bone clasps	Book cover	Cover	Title page

Sample Congratulations from Governments and Business

Himeji Castle

Himeji-jo (Castle) was originally built in 1346. Throughout its history it was owned by thirteen warrior families, not the least of which was Hashiba (Toyotomi) Hideyoshi, the commoner who rose to become the de facto military dictator of Japan during the Sengoku-jidai (Civil War Era).  Lord Hideyoshi reconstructed the castle as a three storied structure in 1581.  In 1601, Ikeda Terumasa, son-in-law of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the shogun who defeated the Hideyoshi family, transformed the castle into its present five tiered configuration with three smaller donjons.  Unlike many European castles which had no real strategic defenses, Himeji-jo was built for warfare. The walls contain geometrically shaped sama, openings through which archers and gunners shot at attacking troops and ishiotoshi, an opening through which stones or boiling water were dumped on enemy soldiers scaling the wall. Despite its utilitarian purpose, the castle is nevertheless one of the most beautiful in Japan.

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#26
Title	Himeji Castle, Eveing (Himejijo-yu) (on left margin outside image)
Series
Artist	Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950)
Signature	Yoshida in Japanese printed lower left of image
Seal	Hiroshi at lower left of image (see above)
Publication Date	November 1928
Edition	special edition of 2000 impressions from a recut block (see "About this Print" above) for the Enthronement Edition: The Japan Advertiser
Publisher	Yoshida family studio
Printer
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	excellent - tipped onto page 59 of the Enthronement Edition: The Japan Advertiser
Miscellaneous	according to John Mason, the Yoshida family studio printed the cover of the Enthronement Edition
Genre	shin hanga (new prints)
Format	oban tate-e
H x W Paper	15 3/8 x 10 1/4 in. (39.2 x 26 cm)
H x W Image	13 7/8 x 9 1/4 in. (35.2 x 23.4 cm)
Collections This Print	Los Angeles County Museum of Art M.79.176.109 (noted as "later edition")
Reference Literature	Revisiting Modern Japanese Prints: Selected Works from the Richard F. Grott Family Collection, Helen M. Nagata, Helen Merritt, Northern Illinois University Art Museum, 2007, p. 47, 80; Catalogue Raisonné - The Complete Woodblock Prints of Yoshida Hiroshi, Tadao Ogura, Abe Corporation, 1996, p. 170, plate 252.

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