Artist: Tokuriki Tomikichirō (徳力富吉郎, 1902–2000) Title: Title: Flying Cranes Date: c. 1980s (late Shōwa), Pencil-Signed by the artist 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 A pair of cranes in flight against a red ground. In Japan the crane, tsuru, is one of the most important auspicious motifs. The saying "the crane lives a thousand years" (tsuru wa sennen) made it a standard symbol of longevity, and because cranes pair for life, they also stand for fidelity and a happy marriage. Crane designs appear on wedding kimono, New Year decorations and celebration gifts. The red-crowned crane, tanchō, is Japan's native species. It was hunted almost to extinction by the early 20th century and survived only in eastern Hokkaido. It is now designated a Special Natural Monument by the Japanese government, and its recovery is one of Japan's best-known conservation stories. Tokuriki Tomikichirō, twelfth generation of a Kyoto family of painters attached to the Hongan-ji, was a leader of the sōsaku hanga movement in Kyoto and founder of the publishing house Matsukyū. Alongside his landscapes he produced bird-and-flower subjects in a bold, flat graphic style.