Tanuki
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
$1,000–$15,000. Common landscapes: $1,000–$3,000. Key value factors: Kasamatsu's early shin-hanga works (pre-1955) tend to be more valued than his later sosaku-hanga production.
The tanuki — a raccoon dog central to Japanese folklore as a shapeshifting trickster — appears here as both animal subject and cultural icon. Kasamatsu portrays the creature with affectionate specificity, capturing the rounded body, masked face, and ambling posture that made tanuki a beloved motif in Japanese ceramics and garden sculpture. The print sits at the intersection of natural history observation and folk mythology, a combination Kasamatsu handled with characteristic warmth.
Hebizukai
1932
Color woodblock print; oban
1935
Color woodblock print; oban
1964
Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper
1964
Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Tanuki was created by Shiro Kasamatsu (笠松紫浪).
Tanuki was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Tanuki depicts animals.
