$500–$4,000. Common subjects: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Ishikawa's prints are relatively uncommon in the market. When available, good examples find ready buyers.
Dated 1935, this [oban](/glossary/oban) print depicts a woman absorbed in a book, her posture curved around the text in her hands. Ishikawa Toraji renders the scene with ink and color on paper, using warm tones to create an atmosphere of quiet intellectual engagement. The reading woman was a distinctly modern subject in Japanese printmaking, signaling literacy, independence, and access to the world of ideas. Toraji's composition isolates the figure in her act of reading, treating it as a form of private pleasure as worthy of artistic attention as any traditional [bijin-ga](/glossary/bijin-ga) pose.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Reading was created by Ishikawa Toraji (石川寅治) in 1935.
Reading was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1935).
Reading depicts figures, bijin-ga, and interiors.
Reading measures 48.6 × 37.8 cm (Oban format).
