Wind God (Fūjin) from the portfolio Woodblock Prints by Kihei Sasajima

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

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

Wind God (Fūjin) 風神

from the portfolio Woodblock Prints by Kihei Sasajima

by Sasajima Kihei, 1964 (originally 1963)

Front and Verso

IHL Cat. #1526

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 the Shinto god of the wind Fūjin, one of the oldest Shinto gods, Fūjin was present at the creation of the world when he first let the winds out of his bag, clearing the morning mists and filling the space between heaven and earth allowing the sun to shine. He is portrayed as a terrifying dark demon carrying a large bag of winds on his shoulders. Fūjin is often seen paired with Raijin, the thunder god.

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.

"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)¹ and printed by Yoneda Minoru². 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 15th print in the portfolio. As originally created by Sasajima its dimensions were approximately 23 5/8 x 17 3/4 in. (60 x 45 cm). The portfolio reduced-size reproduction measures approximately 13 1/2 x 10 in. (34.3 x 25.4 cm).

1963 original print 1964 portfolio print

¹ Iokibe Kin’ichi 五百旗頭欣一 (1913-1978) was a poet, artist and carver.
² Yoneda Minoru (?-?) also carved the blocks for many of the re-prints of the work of Onchi Kōshirō (1891-1955).

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#1526
Title	Wind God (Fūjin) 風神
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	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	excellent - several spots of what might be foxing
Genre	sosaku hanga; 縮写復刻 shukusha fukkoku (reduced-size reissue)
Miscellaneous
Format
H x W Paper	13 1/2 x 10 in. (34.3 x 25.4 cm)
H x W Image	11 3/4 x 8 3/4 in. (29.8 x 22.2 cm)
Collections This Print	National Diet Library JP番号64012710
Reference Literature