ASA NO KAWA GOSHOKU
by Ido Masao
by Ido Masao
$1,000–$6,000. Common subjects: $1,000–$2,000. Key value factors: Ido Masao's prints have maintained steady value since his death in 2016. Traditional architecture subjects are most popular.
Asa no Kawa Goshoku, meaning five colors of the morning river, is an [oban](/glossary/oban) woodblock print that captures the chromatic richness of a river at dawn. The title's specificity, identifying five distinct colors, points to Ido Masao's attentiveness to the way water transforms reflected light into a palette that shifts minute by minute as the sun rises. Morning rivers in Japan are subjects of particular beauty because the still air of early hours creates mirror-like surfaces that double the surrounding landscape in reflection. Ido uses the woodblock medium's capacity for precise color separation to render each of the five tones as a distinct ink impression, building up the river's appearance through the same additive process by which dawn itself assembles the day's first light from darkness.
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.
ASA NO KAWA GOSHOKU was created by Ido Masao (井堂雅夫).
ASA NO KAWA GOSHOKU depicts landscapes and rivers & lakes.
