Kaburaki Kiyokata and Hirezaki Eiho – Illustrations bringing color to modern literature

The Unknown Woodblock Prints with Excellent Techniques

From the late 20s of Meiji Era to the early Taishō Era, kuchi-e prints made with woodblocks were used in the opening pages of the magazines and novels. Kuchi-e which brilliantly illustrated stories, did not simply inherit the mastery of ukiyo-e from the Edo period, but largely surpassed its techniques with delicate carving and painting. However, as they are rarely studied by current ukiyo-e researchers, they had been a forgotten genre. We have chosen 110 pieces from the collection by a kuchi-e collector, Asahi Tomoo to highlight the beauty of kuchi-e prints.

Unknown Illustrators –Keishū, Eisen, Toshikata and Hanko

Kuchi-e prints used in the opening pages of magazines and novels were produced by more than 100 artists since the late 20s of the Meiji period. Popular artists before Kiyokata and Eihō, were Takeuchi Keishū (1861-1943), Tomioka Eisen (1864-1905), Mizuno Toshikata (1866-1908) and Kajita Hanko (1870-1917). Among them, Mizuno Toshikata, the master of Kaburaki Kiyokata, is an essential artist to study in order to understand the artworks of Kiyokata. We will introduce these four illustrators along with Kiyokata and Eihō.