$500–$4,000. Common Tokyo views: $500–$1,500. Key value factors: Nouet's Tokyo views have historical as well as artistic value, documenting pre-war landmarks. French connection adds collector interest.
Asakusa Temple, known formally as Senso-ji, is Tokyo's oldest Buddhist temple, founded in 628 AD according to tradition. Nouet's [oban](/glossary/oban) woodblock print, produced as part of his Scenes of Tokyo Views series, depicts the temple precinct that by the twentieth century had become the spiritual and commercial heart of Tokyo's shitamachi (downtown) culture. The composition likely includes the iconic Kaminarimon thunder gate with its enormous red lantern, the Nakamise shopping street leading to the main hall, or the five-story pagoda that dominates the surrounding low-rise neighborhood. Nouet's French perspective on this quintessentially Japanese subject creates a productive tension between familiarity and estrangement, seeing the temple's visual drama with fresh eyes unconditioned by the cultural assumptions that Japanese artists brought to the same scene.
Woodblock print
1928
Color lithograph
1930
Color lithograph
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Scenes Of Tokyo Views Asakusa Temple was created by Noël Nouët.
Scenes Of Tokyo Views Asakusa Temple was published by Unsodo.
Scenes Of Tokyo Views Asakusa Temple depicts urban scenes and temples & shrines, set at Tokyo, Asakusa.
