Hotaru Gari- Firefly Hunting
- Date:
- Not set
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Typical Price
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.
- Common examples: $100–$500
- Good impressions: $500–$2,000
- Premium/scarce: $2,000–$10,000
Description
"Firefly Hunting" (蛍狩り, Hotaru Gari) depicts one of the most poetically resonant summer leisure activities in the Japanese calendar: the evening pursuit of fireflies in grassy riverside areas, where the insects' cold light created a magical natural spectacle celebrated in poetry from the Manyoshu onward. Shuntei renders the firefly-hunting scene with its characteristic combination of darkness and points of light — the darkening summer evening, the figures moving through the grass, the fireflies as floating sources of cold illumination. The subject's literary resonance enriched its visual appeal.
