Home‎ > ‎Artists‎ > ‎Sasajima Kihei (1906-1993)‎ > ‎

Stone Path from the portfolio Woodblock Prints by Kihei Sasajima

The actors Bandō Hikosaburō V as Ukiyo Tohai, Ichimura Kakitsu IV as Nozarashi Gosuke and Ichikawa Danzō VI as Rokuji Namuemon

Japanese Color Woodblock Print

Stone Path 石径

from the portfolio Woodblock Prints by Kihei Sasajima

by Sasajima Kihei, 1964 (originally 1963)

Sasajima Kihei (1906-1993)

 
Front

Verso
IHL Cat. #1527

About This Print

One of five prints in this collection from the portfolio of prints titled "Woodblock Prints by Kihei Sasajima" issued in an edition of 300 copies by the Tokyo publisher Bijutsu Shuppan-sha in 1964.  

Picturing a pathway through the trees to what is likely a temple building, the printer, Yoneda Minoru, has employed Sasajima's takuzuri technique of forcing paper into a deep-cut block with a press and dabbing the raised areas with an ink saturated pad giving the print a sculpted three-dimensional appearance. For this print, he appears to have used a dyed kozo paper.  

Woodblock Prints by Kihei Sasajima" - A Portfolio of Twenty Reduced-Size Prints

A portfolio of twenty prints designed by Sasajima Kiehi and published by Bijutsu Shuppan-sha.  The prints in the portfolio are woodblock reproductions, almost all of them reproduced in a smaller size than the original prints created by the artist.  The woodblocks for the reduced-size prints (縮写復刻 shukusha fukkoku) were carved by Iokibe Kin’ichi (1913-1978)2 and printed by Yoneda Minoru3.  The table of contents for the series, shown below, provides the titles of the twenty prints, their original size and original date of publication.  Each print was tipped into a windowed mat which carried the number of the print as shown in the table of contents.  The portfolio included a commentary by Michiaki Kawakita, author and art historian.





  Portfolio's Colophon
click on image to enlarge
 
Portfolio's Table of Contents
click on image to enlarge


Comparison of Original Print with Portfolio Print
This print is the 14th print in the portfolio.  As originally created by Sasajima its dimensions were approximately 11 3/4 x 17 3/4 in. (30 x 45 cm).  The portfolio slightly smaller reproduction measures 9 5/8 x 13 5/8 in. (24.4 x 34.6 cm).

Print Details

 IHL Catalog #1527
 Title Stone Path 石径 
Portfolio Woodblock Prints by Kihei Sasajima
 笹島喜平版画作品集 Sasajima Kihei hanga sakushinshū
 Artist 
 Sasajima Kihei (1906-1993)
 Signature 
 not signed
 Seal of the Artist
笹 (artist's "sasa" seal)
 Publication Date
 October 1, 1964 (originally 1963)
 Publisher
 Bijutsu Shuppan-sha Corporation 株式会社美術出版社 (Ōshita Masao 大下正男)
 Carver Iokibe Kin’ichi 五百旗頭欣一 
 Printer Yoneda Minoru 米田稔 
 Impression good
 Colors excellent
 Condition excellent
 Genre sosaku hanga; 縮写復刻 shukusha fukkoku (reduced-size reissue)
 Miscellaneous 
 Format
 H x W Paper 9 5/8 x 13 5/8 in. (24.4 x 34.6 cm)
 H x W Image 7 1/2 x 11 13/16 in. (19.1 x 30 cm)
 Collections This Print National Diet Library JP番号64012710 and NDL Call Number 733-Sa735s

 Reference Literature