Sengakuji Temple at Takanawa in Tokyo

Catalog note / 解説

'Sengakuji Temple at Takanawa in Tokyo' by Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870-1949), dated circa 1933. This is a Japanese Shin-Hanga (“modern style-woodblock print”) on heavy rice paper. This stunning nighttime scene features a woman and her child, carrying an umbrella and lantern through the gentle rain, and another figure silhouetted in warm light at the door of the temple,which causes bright reflections on the cobbled street and the bark of the tree in the foreground. The detail is fascinating, and there is a subtle passage in black and dark red under the roof in the foreground that is difficult to see in the photograph. The size of the print is Oban; the paper measures 15-3/8 inches (39cm) across an…