From Yoshida's later career (1935–1950), these prints show his technical mastery at full maturity. Later-decade prints slightly trail peak-period 1920s works at auction, but jizuri impressions of desirable subjects still command strong prices. Standard jizuri Japanese landscapes follow the dealer benchmark of approximately $2,149; Sacred Bridge, Nikko (1937) sold for $800 at Schmidt's Antiques for a pencil-signed example.
Nikko — the extravagant Toshogu shrine complex built in Tochigi Prefecture to enshrine the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu — is surrounded by dense cedar forests and mountain streams, and in misty weather the entire precinct takes on a dreamlike quality that Yoshida captures in this 1937 print. The mist that gathers in Nikko's forested valleys in spring and autumn transforms its ornate shrine architecture and natural setting into something more ethereal than the clear-day tourist view: color and detail dissolve into gradients of grey-green and white, leaving only the essential forms of trees and rooflines. Yoshida's atmospheric mastery — his ability to render the visual logic of mist without losing compositional clarity — is at its finest in this treatment.
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.
Misty Day in Nikko was created by Hiroshi Yoshida (吉田博) in 1937.
Misty Day in Nikko uses Bokashi, Nishiki-e, and Moku-hanga, on color woodblock print.
Misty Day in Nikko was published by Yoshida Studio (1937).
Misty Day in Nikko depicts landscapes, temples & shrines, and trees, set at Nikko.
Misty Day in Nikko measures 26.9 × 40.8 cm (Oban format).
