Reading

Reading belongs to Ishikawa Toraji's 1934 series Rajo Jusshu (Ten Types of Female Nudes), the work that secured his place at the edge of the shin-hanga movement. The print depicts a nude figure absorbed in a book, her body modeled through subtle bokashi gradations that translate the tonal logic of yoga oil painting into the woodblock medium. Ishikawa's training at the Tokyo Fine Arts School in Western academic figure drawing is evident in the anatomical solidity of the pose and the studio-like construction of the interior space. Unlike the bijin-ga tradition that dominated shin-hanga figure work — Hashiguchi Goyo and Ito Shinsui's clothed beauties — Ishikawa's series treated the unclothed body as a subject for sustained pictorial study rather than erotic spectacle. The print would have required a high block count to achieve its smooth flesh transitions, and impressions on washi show the careful baren pressure characteristic of the publisher's atelier. Reading exemplifies the series's quiet, introspective register.