Waves of Potential Immigrants from Many Lands (Shikinamigusa)

Date:: 1796
Medium:: Color woodblock-printed book; 1 vol.
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

The Shikinamigusa (Waves of Potential Immigrants from Many Lands) is an illustrated color woodblock-printed book from 1796 featuring kyoka verse composed by contributors imagining themselves as visitors from foreign lands, a witty literary conceit that used the persona of the outsider to observe Japanese customs with defamiliarizing humor. Hokusai's illustrations bring visual life to these playful self-orientalizing verses.