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Hirakawa Gate in the Spring Rain #77 from the series One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era

Snow at Sakurada Gate #75 from the series One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era

Japanese Color Woodblock Print 

Hirakawa Gate in the Spring Rain (#77)

from the series One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo

in the Showa Era

by Kishio Koizumi, 1936

Pagoda of Tennōji Temple at Shitaya, Yanaka from the series One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era
IHL Cat. #112

About This Print

Number seventy-seven of the one hundred prints that make up the series Showa dai Tokyohyakuzue (One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo During Showa).  Koizumi startedthis series in 1928 and completed it twelve years later in 1940. 

For more information on this series see "The Series - One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo During Showa (Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue)" under the artist's biography.

Artist's Annotation

Source: MIT Visualizing Cultures website http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/tokyo_modern_02/annotation.html
In 1940, Koizumi created woodblock print charts containing print titles, dates, and comments for this series.  His comment for this print follows:

“This gate is the entrance to the Imperial Household Agency. In the rain it somehow conveys the feeling of the Edo period.”

Other Impressions - Reference Images for this Print

 
TheNational Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo P00131-033
 
Hirakawamon by the Palace side Building is the entrance formerly used by the "daimyo", and has a wooden bridge reconstructed in the old style with "gibohshi," (a decoration in the shape of the onion-bulb jewel found on top of the newel.)


Print Details

 IHL Catalog #112
 Title Hirakawa Gate in the Spring Rain
 Dai nana-ju-nana kei, Harusame furu Hirakawa-mon 春雨降る平川門
 Series One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era
 Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue 昭和大東京百図絵
 Reference Number
 #77 (artist's annotated portfolio list from c. 1940)
 Artist
 Koizumi Kishio (1893-1945)
 Signature
 Koizumi Kishio (Roman letters) and Izumi 泉 in image with artist's pencil signature "Koizumi Kishio" in Japanese in right margin
 Seal 
 Publication Date April 1936
 Edition unknownedition.  Appears to be the same edition as print in The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.
 Publisher  likely self-published; some sources list publisher as Asahi Press (see "The Publisher of the Series" under the artist's bio Koizumi Kishio.)
 Impression excellent
 Colors excellent
 Condition good- bottom right margin damaged and two thin spots on top margin from prior tape or mounting.  Several spots of foxing in image and bottom margin.
 Miscellaneous
 Genre sosaku hanga (creative prints)
 Format dai oban
 H x W Paper 11 3/4 x 15 1/2 in. (29.8 x 39.4 cm)
 H x W Image 11 x 15 1/8 x in. (27.9 x 38.4 cm)
 Collections This Print TheNational Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo P00131-033; Wolfsonian-FloridaInternational University TD1993.69.1.23 and TD1993.69.1.24; The British Museum 2004,0417,0.2

 Reference LiteratureTokyo: The Imperial Capital Woodblock prints by Koizumi Kishio,1928-1940, Marianne Lamonaca, The Wolfsonian-Florida InternationalUniversity, 2004, p. 77; Hanga ni miru Tokyo no fukei; Kanto daishinsai kara senzen made, Ota Kuritsu Kyodo Hakubutsukan, 2002, pl. 150, p.36.