TANBI (Short Day)
Description
"Tanbi" — short day — evokes the brief daylight of the winter solstice months, when the sun describes its lowest arc across the sky and darkness claims the largest portion of the day. Nishijima renders a traditional architectural scene in the quality of light appropriate to winter's short days: the sun's angle low and raking, the shadows long even at midday, the illumination more horizontal than overhead. These conditions lend a particular drama to his architectural subjects, highlighting facades and rooflines from angles unseen in summer's overhead sun.
More Prints by Katsuyuki Nishijima
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Frequently Asked Questions
TANBI (Short Day) was created by Katsuyuki Nishijima (西島勝之).
TANBI (Short Day) depicts urban scenes, architecture, and winter.