Key value factors: As self-carved and self-printed works, sosaku-hanga value is tied to the artist's reputation and edition size. Larger formats, earlier editions, and historically significant works command the highest prices.
Yoroidake (Armour Peak) is a woodblock print depicting the mountain in the Northern Alps of Japan whose name references the segmented appearance of its rocky ridgeline, said to resemble samurai armor. The peak rises in the Hotaka range of Nagano Prefecture, and its rugged profile has attracted mountaineers and artists alike. Maeda Toshiro's print renders the mountain's armored appearance through the woodblock's capacity for crisp geological forms, the layered rock faces carved into the block as precisely as the mountain itself was carved by glaciers. The warrior association in the name adds a martial quality to what is otherwise a pure landscape subject.
Woodblock print
c. 1828/30
Color woodblock print; surimono
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Yoroidake (Armour Peak) was created by Maeda Toshiro (前田藤四郎).
Yoroidake (Armour Peak) depicts warriors and mountains.
