$200–$1,500. Common subjects: $200–$500. Key value factors: Kamei Tobei's prints are modestly priced and accessible to collectors of shin-hanga landscapes.
This [oban](/glossary/oban) woodblock print depicts the Shishinden, the Ceremonial Hall of the Kyoto Imperial Palace, the most sacred building in the palace complex where enthronement ceremonies and major state rituals were conducted. The Shishinden's austere architecture, with its broad expanse of white-graveled courtyard, its vermillion-painted columns, and its steep cypress-bark roof, represents the pinnacle of Japanese palace design. Kamei's rendering of this building connects his landscape practice to Kyoto's imperial heritage. The Shishinden's formal proportions and the vast empty courtyard before it create a composition dominated by horizontal and vertical lines, with the architectural geometry softened by the paired trees, a cherry and a mandarin orange, that flank the main stairway. The print preserves the solemn atmosphere of a space designed for the highest ceremonies of state.
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.
Shishinden was created by Kamei Tobei (亀井東平).
Shishinden depicts landscapes, temples & shrines, and architecture.
