Woman Wearing a Straw Coat (Mino o mato fujin) from Tale of the Castle Tower (Tenshu monogatari)
by Saito Kaoru
by Saito Kaoru
$200–$1,500. Common prints: $200–$500. Key value factors: Saito Kaoru's prints are modestly priced and accessible to beginning collectors of Japanese creative prints.
Drawn from Izumi Kyoka's supernatural play Tenshu Monogatari (Tale of the Castle Tower), this 1978 mezzotint depicts a woman wearing a mino, the traditional straw raincoat used by travelers and rural workers. In Kyoka's story, the castle tower is haunted by a beautiful spirit, and the straw coat transforms an ordinary garment into something otherworldly when worn by a supernatural being within the play's gothic atmosphere. Saito's mezzotint technique produces the deep, velvety blacks and luminous tonal transitions that suit the story's nocturnal, mysterious mood. The straw coat's coarse texture contrasts with the woman's refined features, creating a visual tension between rustic material and ethereal presence that mirrors the play's collision of the mundane and the supernatural.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Woman Wearing a Straw Coat (Mino o mato fujin) from Tale of the Castle Tower (Tenshu monogatari) was created by Saito Kaoru (斎藤薫) in 1978.
Woman Wearing a Straw Coat (Mino o mato fujin) from Tale of the Castle Tower (Tenshu monogatari) uses Mezzotint, on mezzotint.
Woman Wearing a Straw Coat (Mino o mato fujin) from Tale of the Castle Tower (Tenshu monogatari) depicts castles, landscapes, and architecture.
