Nichibotsu (Sunset)

Date:: 1937
Medium:: Woodblock print
Edition:: Self-printed
Source:: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Typical Price

Complete multi-panel set or suite in excellent condition: $100,000–$500,000+
Individual panel from major series: $20,000–$80,000
Single significant work: $5,000–$20,000

Description

"Nichibotsu (Sunset)" from 1937 is one of Munakata's landscape subjects from his most intensively Buddhist year — a reminder that his engagement with natural phenomena was as deep as his engagement with sacred iconography. The sunset as a Buddhist subject carries associations of the Western Pure Land of Amida Buddha, toward which the setting sun points. Munakata's sunset would be carved with the same directness as his sacred figures: the disc of the sun, the colors spreading from it across the sky, the darkening world below — all rendered through the knife's immediate encounter with the wood.

More Prints by Shiko Munakata

Flying Over the Mountains (Yamagoe), from the series "The Tale of the Auklet (Uto Hanga-kan)"

1960

Woodblock print

Bodhisattva Manjusri (Monju bosatsu no saku), from the series Ten Great Disciples of the Buddha Sakyamuni (Shaka jûdai deshi), Shôwa period, undated (block carved 1948)

Shôwa period, 1926-1989

Woodblock print

Ragora (Rahula), from the series "Two Bodhisattva and Ten Great Disciples of Buddha Sakyamuni (Nibosatsu Shaka judai deshi)"

1939-68

Woodblock print

Ubari (Upali), from the series "Two Bodhisattva and Ten Great Disciples of Buddha Sakyamuni (Nibosatsu Shaka judai deshi)"

1939 (printed 1955)

Woodblock print

More Landscapes Prints

Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"

Wakasa Kugushiko

1920

Color woodblock print; oban

Autumn Maple Leaves at Takao, from the album Eight Views of Kyoto (Kyôto hakkei)

Woodblock print

The Beach at Kaiganji in Sanuki Province (Sanuki Kaiganji no hama), from the series "Collection of Views of Japan II, Kansai Edition (Nihon fukei shu II Kansai hen)"

1934

Color woodblock print; oban

Tea Kettle, section of a sheet from the series "Mirror of Stone Rubbings of Views of the Provinces" (Kohon meihitsu ishizuri kagami)

n.d.

Woodblock print; ishizuri-e, section of harimaze sheet

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Mount Fuji in Japanese Woodblock Prints Sōsaku-Hanga: The Creative-Print Movement Meisho-e: Famous-Place Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

Nichibotsu (Sunset) was created by Shiko Munakata (棟方志功) in 1937.

Nichibotsu (Sunset) depicts landscapes, religious, and seascapes.