Artist: Tokuriki Tomikichirō (徳力富吉郎, 1902–2000) Title: Motosuko Beni-Fuji (本栖湖 紅冨士) — "Red Fuji at Lake Motosu" Date: c. 1980s (late Shōwa) Format: Shikishi-ban (near-square sheet), approx. 27.5 × 24.5 cm Technique: Nishiki-e (colour woodblock) on washi ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Paper & condition Excellent. Full margins, unfaded, unbacked, no folds or foxing. The colours are noticeably richer in hand than any photograph conveys. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- About the print Beni-Fuji, "Red Fuji", is the name for the moment when the rising sun turns the snow-covered upper slopes of Mount Fuji red. It is most often seen in late autumn and winter, and it has long been treated in Japan as an auspicious sight. In art the theme goes back at least to Hokusai's famous "Red Fuji" from the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, and it remains one of the most popular Fuji subjects with collectors. Lake Motosu is the westernmost and deepest of the Fuji Five Lakes. Its view of Fuji is one of the best known in the country: Okada Kōyō's photograph taken from its shore was used on the reverse of the 5,000-yen note and later the 1,000-yen note. The lake is part of the Fujisan World Heritage site, inscribed in 2013. Tokuriki Tomikichirō was the twelfth generation of a Kyoto family of painters attached to the Hongan-ji and one of the central figures of modern Kyoto printmaking. He turned to the woodblock in 1929 under the influence of Hiratsuka Un'ichi, became a leader of the sōsaku hanga movement in Kyoto, and also designed shin hanga landscapes for a wider audience. Mount Fuji stayed with him throughout his career, from his 1941 Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji to late shikishi-format views like this one. After the war he founded the publishing house Matsukyū, which trained a generation of carvers and printers.