Cherry Blossoms in Rain at Arashiyama, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei)
by Insho Domoto
by Insho Domoto
$1,000–$8,000. Still life prints are among the artist's most iconic works. Good nature/landscape prints: $2,500–$5,000. Key value factors: As a major nihonga painter, Domoto Insho's prints are valued both as artworks and as affordable entry points to his oeuvre. Paintings command far higher prices.
Arashiyama, on Kyoto's western edge where the Oi River passes beneath the Togetsukyo bridge, is one of the city's canonical cherry-blossom viewing sites. Domoto's treatment of the subject under rain, from the Kyôto hakkei album, adds a further atmospheric layer to the [meisho-e](/glossary/meisho-e) convention. Rain in woodblock printing is typically rendered through fine parallel lines cut into a dedicated block, overlaid on landscape imagery to suggest falling drops and the grey-white veil of a spring shower. The blossoms under these conditions would appear muted and softened compared to clear-day depictions, and Domoto likely exploits this dampened palette to differentiate the composition from more conventional hanami imagery. [Washi](/glossary/washi) absorbs the closely registered color fields needed for rain effects without bleed, and [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations across the sky and water would reinforce the overcast atmosphere. The rainy variant distinguishes this view as a more contemplative rendering of the site.
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
early Shôwa period (1926–1989), 1926/35
Silk, plain weave; stenciled and resist dyed (yûzenzome: ita-age, suri yûzenzome, otoshizome and shigokizome)
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.
Cherry Blossoms in Rain at Arashiyama, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei) was created by Insho Domoto (堂本印象).
Cherry Blossoms in Rain at Arashiyama, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei) depicts landscapes, cherry blossoms, and rain, set at Kyoto, Arashiyama.