Tomikichiro Tokuriki

Tomikichiro Tokuriki (1902–1999) was one of the most prolific Japanese woodblock print artists of the twentieth century, producing an estimated several thousand prints during a career that spanned some seventy years. Born into a distinguished Kyoto artisan family whose roots reached back to the Keicho era of the late sixteenth century, Tokuriki worked across both the shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga traditions, becoming best known for his richly colored depictions of Kyoto's temples, shrines, and seasonal landscapes, as well as his celebrated views of Mount Fuji.

Born on March 22, 1902, in Kyoto, Tokuriki belonged to a family that had for generations served as the official print artists for the renowned Honganji Temple. This heritage in the creation of religious prints and Buddhist imagery gave him an intimate connection to traditional Japanese craftsmanship from his earliest years. He first learned artistic techniques from his grandfather before entering the Kyoto City School of Arts and Crafts, where he completed a two-year preparatory course followed by four years of general artistic training; he then studied further at the Kyoto College of Art, graduating in 1923. Among his teachers was Tsuchida Bakusen, one of Kyoto's most prominent nihonga painters.

While still a young artist, Tokuriki joined the Hanga Association, where he encountered sosaku-hanga printmakers including Hiratsuka Un'ichi, Masao Maeda, and Kihachiro Shimozawa. These meetings sparked his passion for creative printmaking. In 1929 he was among the founders of the Kyoto Sosaku-Hangakai (Kyoto Creative Print Society), together with Asano Takeji and Asada Benji. The following year he collaborated with Asano and Asada on Creative Prints of Twelve Months in New Kyoto, one of the first significant publications from the Kyoto sosaku-hanga circle.

Tokuriki's commercial career flourished through his long relationship with the Kyoto publisher Uchida (Uchida Bijutsu Shoten), which became his primary publisher for shin-hanga designs. Among the most important works produced through this partnership is the Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, issued around 1939–1941, which presents Japan's iconic mountain from a wide variety of vantage points and seasonal conditions. Other series for Uchida include the Twelve Months of Kyoto and the later New Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, along with further sets devoted to famous places and the seasons of Japan's cities.

The Twelve Months of Kyoto exemplifies Tokuriki's deep connection to his native city, depicting beloved landmarks through the cycle of the year — among them Byodoin Temple under snow, the plum blossoms of Kitano Shrine, the Gion Festival, Yasaka Pagoda, and Kinkakuji. He extended the same topographic vision to Tokyo, portraying such scenes as the cherry blossoms of Asakusa and the moon over Shinobazu Pond.

After the Second World War, Tokuriki established his own publishing company, Matsukyu, which produced and distributed his prints as well as works by other shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga artists. Matsukyu also served as a teaching studio, offering instruction in block carving to artisans and artists, including foreign students in later decades. This dual role as publisher and educator gave Tokuriki an unusually broad influence on the development of woodblock printmaking in the postwar period.

Tokuriki's artistic production encompassed two distinct streams. His shin-hanga prints, created through the traditional collaborative process with professional carvers and printers, are characterized by soft, pastel-like colors and meticulous renderings of famous Japanese landmarks. His sosaku-hanga works, which he considered his true artistic passion, were self-designed, self-carved, and self-printed, reflecting a more personal and experimental aesthetic. This dual practice placed him at the intersection of Japanese printmaking's two major twentieth-century currents, and he moved freely between them throughout his career.

Tokuriki's style is marked by vibrant color, thoughtful composition, and a deep affection for Japan's architectural and natural heritage. His subjects range from the intimate scale of temple gardens to the grand sweep of Mount Fuji, always rendered with the technical precision that his family's long artisan tradition had instilled. His shin-hanga prints appealed to international collectors with their accessible beauty and sense of place, while his sosaku-hanga works demonstrated the more personal and expressive possibilities of the medium.

During the 1960s, Tokuriki brought his work to international audiences through exhibitions in Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, and Cleveland. Among his notable students were the artists Daniel Kelly and David Stones, both of whom gained international recognition.

Tokuriki remained active into his nineties, spending his life in Kyoto in a two-hundred-year-old family house, and died in 1999. His works are held in major collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the British Museum in London. His extraordinary output and his role in bridging the shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga traditions make him one of the most significant figures in the history of twentieth-century Japanese printmaking.