−

This untitled Kiyochika print belongs to a body of work produced during one of the most active decades of Meiji-period printmaking, the 1870s through the 1890s, when Tokyo was undergoing rapid physical transformation. New construction, demolition of Edo-period structures, the introduction of gas and electric lighting, and the arrival of rail transport all provided Kiyochika with subject matter that had no precedent in the woodblock tradition. His response was formal as well as thematic: he developed tonal effects through bokashi gradation and selective block application that could approximate the behavior of electric arc light or reflected fire in ways no earlier Japanese printmaker had attempted. The resulting prints occupy a distinct position in the late history of the traditional woodblock medium.