Usa Jingu Shrine, Kyushu

Catalog note / 解説

This is a rare and obviously one-of-a-kind watercolour used as the 'shita-e' (preparatory drawing) for the corresponding woodblock print from the series \"Scenes of Sacred Places and Historic Landmarks\". In early 2010 I was fortunate to be able to acquire 32 Tokuriki watercolours. Print title, arist signature and seal at upper right. The series was first published in Showa 16 (1941). See the full series from the first edition here. To the north of Beppu (in Kyushu) lies the shrine city of Usa. The bright-orange shrine building are decorated with carvings; the style of the buildings is of the Heian era (794-1192) but the shrine was founded earlier (725). The hill on which the shrine is buil…