Takanawa Ushi-machi oborozuki-kei

Medium:: Woodblock print
Format:: Oban
Source:: British Museum

Typical Price

Scarce early Meiji Tokyo scene or kosen-ga (light-picture) in excellent condition: $8,000–$30,000
Fine atmospheric night or light-ray scene: $2,000–$8,000
Good condition early Tokyo print: $500–$2,000

Description

Takanawa Ushimachi — the cattle-market district along the old Tōkaidō road south of Shinagawa — is depicted under a hazy moon (oborozuki, the misted spring moon) in this undated woodblock print. The title's compositional elements — Takanawa Ushi-machi oborozuki-kei, "view of the hazy moon at Takanawa cattle market" — are precisely calibrated to Kiyochika's landscape poetics: a specific Tokyo neighbourhood, a specific lunar condition, a specific quality of diffused spring light. The "hazy moon" was a classical poetic subject that Kiyochika brought into his Meiji meisho practice.