Lantern at Asakusa
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- British Museum
Description
The enormous paper lantern hanging before Sensoji's Kaminarimon gate dominates the foreground while figures move through the covered Nakamise shopping arcade beyond. Kasamatsu treated the lantern at Asakusa as an urban icon specific to Tokyo — as recognizable and emotionally loaded for his audience as any natural landmark — and his depiction may show it in the contrast between nighttime illumination and the dark gate structure above. The lantern's inscribed characters and brilliant red against black create a composition of stark graphic power.
More Prints by Shiro Kasamatsu
More Urban Scenes Prints
A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)
Woodblock print
View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"
1928
Color lithograph
Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"
1930
Color lithograph
Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno
1948
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Lantern at Asakusa was created by Shiro Kasamatsu (笠松紫浪).
Lantern at Asakusa was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Lantern at Asakusa depicts urban scenes, temples & shrines, and daily life, set at Asakusa.