$1,000–$8,000. Common prints: $1,000–$2,500. Key value factors: As a pioneer of sosaku-hanga and influential art critic, Hakutei's prints carry historical significance. Early self-carved prints are most valued.
This ink and color woodblock print from circa 1914-1916 presents the Shinbashi district, a pivotal location in Tokyo's modernization as the site of Japan's first railway station, opened in 1872. By the 1910s, Shinbashi had evolved into an entertainment quarter known for its geisha houses and Western-style restaurants, a place where old Edo culture and Meiji modernity collided. Hakutei captures this layered character, rendering the district's architecture and street activity with the observational precision of a painter working en plein air, translated into the carved wood and hand-printed pigment of the sosaku-hanga method. The print belongs to the productive period of the mid-1910s when Hakutei was systematically recording Tokyo's neighborhoods, building a visual archive of a city on the brink of transformation.
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Shinbashi was created by Ishii Hakutei (石井柏亭) in c. 1914–1916.
Shinbashi depicts urban scenes, bijin-ga, and daily life.
Shinbashi measures 38.9 × 25.9 cm.
