$400–$3,000. Common subjects: $400–$1,000. Key value factors: Okuyama's prints are relatively affordable. Bold, well-preserved examples are most valued.
"Nagaura Kaido no Ame" (Rain on the Nagaura Highway) presents a rain-soaked road scene — the particular atmospheric quality of a Japanese country road in wet weather, with the rain dissolving distances into grey-blue washes and turning the road surface to a reflective mirror. Rain landscapes in the Japanese print tradition carried deep aesthetic associations, connected to the Chinese-derived concept of the misty mountain landscape but applied here to the more immediate and humble subject of a local road in a shower. Okuyama's rain handling would have required careful technical control of gradation and wet-on-wet ink application.
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
1934
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Nagaura Kaido no Ame was created by Gihachiro Okuyama (奥山儀八郎).
Nagaura Kaido no Ame depicts landscapes, rain, and travel scenes.
