Travelers' tea house

Date:: c. 1804
Medium:: Color woodblock print; ebangire, surimono
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Later reprint or reproduction (20th-century): $50–$300
Good later impression (Edo-period): $1,000–$5,000
Good early impression (vivid color, legible detail): $5,000–$20,000
Fine early impression (exceptional color and condition): $20,000–$60,000

Hokusai's genre scenes, bijin-ga (beautiful women), and miscellaneous subjects represent the breadth of his career across more than seven decades. The market for non-landscape Hokusai prints has strengthened as collectors seek beyond the most famous designs.

Description

Travelers pause at a roadside teahouse, a ubiquitous fixture along Edo-period travel routes where weary pilgrims and merchants could rest and take refreshment. Formatted as an ebangire surimono — an irregular, non-standard shape favored for its visual distinction — this ca. 1804 print conveys the social warmth of those brief, transient encounters that animated life along Japan's great highways.