Pillar with Baku and Karashishi
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Watanabe Shozaburo
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Shotei produced a wide range of subjects throughout his career under publishers Watanabe and Daikokuya. Signed, sealed lifetime editions consistently outperform unsigned export-market copies.
A carved pillar at a shrine or temple gate bears the guardians Baku — the supernatural tapir that devours nightmares — and Karashishi, the Chinese lion-dog that protects sacred precincts. Shotei renders these sculptural subjects with the same careful observation he brought to natural subjects, the carved stone or wood forms detailed with their original painted or gilded surfaces. The choice of architectural ornament as a subject reflects the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) movement's interest in the full range of traditional Japanese material culture.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Pillar with Baku and Karashishi was created by Takahashi Shotei (高橋松亭).
Pillar with Baku and Karashishi was published by Watanabe Shozaburo.
Pillar with Baku and Karashishi depicts architecture.
