About This Print
Number seventy-eight of the one hundred prints that make up the series Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue (One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo During Showa). Koizumi started this series in 1928 and completed it twelve years later in 1940. In this print, Koizumi presents us with a view of the main road leading into the Yanaka cemetary and the five-story Tennōji pagoda that once stood there. A woman with baby and young child, a peddler and a figure dressed in a light blue kimono walk along. The pagoda which survived the 1923 earthquake and the allied bombing was burnt down in 1957."This five-story pagoda, located in Yanakacemetery, was another important symbol of survival in Tokyo. In 1868 it endured the last battle betweenthose loyal to the Tokugawa shogunate and the new Meiji government, and in 1923it withstood the earthquake. [However, see "Tennōji Pagoda - Double Suicide by Fire" below.] The mainroad leading to the cemetery was (and still is) a famous place for viewingcherry blossoms."
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.htmlIn 1940, Koizumi created woodblock print charts containing print titles, dates, and comments for this series. His comment for this print follows:
Other Impression
Tennōji Pagoda - Double Suicide by Fire
Source: website of Japan Visitor https://www.japanvisitor.com/japan-temples-shrines/tennoji-tokyo#th
"A 35m, five-storied pagoda dating from the late eighteenth century used to stand on what were then the temple grounds but is now in Yanaka Cemetery. The pagoda was infamously burnt down in 1957 when a young seamstress and her older (married) lover committed suicide by setting themselves and the pagoda alight to atone for their adultery. Only the granite foundations now remain of what was once one of the largest pagodas in the Kanto area, in an unremarkable fenced off plot with a placard."
| IHL Catalog | #1909 |
| Title | Pagoda of Tennōji Temple at Shitaya, Yanaka 下谷・谷中天皇寺之塔 - Kanji title upper left margin |
| 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 | #78 (artist's annotated portfolio list from c. 1940) |
| Artist | Koizumi Kishio (1893-1945) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | |
| Publication Date | originally April 1936. This print does not carry a date. |
| Edition | unknown |
| 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 - minor toning and soiling along edge of margins; small tear right side of bottom margin; two pieces of mounting tape top corners verso |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Genre | sosaku hanga (creative prints) |
| Format | dai oban |
| H x W Paper | 15 3/8 x 12 in. (39.1 x 30.5 cm) |
| H x W Image | 14 5/8 x 11 in. (37.1 x 27.9 cm) |
| Collections This Print | Edo-Tokyo Museum 95202907; The Wolfsonian at Florida International University TD1993.69.1.18; The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo P00131-034 |
| Reference Literature | Tokyo: The Imperial Capital Woodblock prints by Koizumi Kishio, 1928-1940,Marianne Lamonaca, The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, 2004, p. 76, plate 34. |
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