Hanga
Etchu Gokasan, Ishikawa by Tomikichiro Tokuriki — Japanese Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)

Etchu Gokasan, Ishikawa

by Tomikichiro Tokuriki

Medium:
Mokuhanga (Japanese woodblock)
Image courtesy of
Saru Gallery

Description

The title locates the print in the Hokuriku region along the Sea of Japan coast, an area associated with the historical province of Etchu (modern Toyama) and neighboring Ishikawa. The Gokayama (Gokasan) area is best known for its gassho-zukuri thatched farmhouses, whose steeply pitched A-frame roofs evolved to shed the region's heavy winter snow. The composition likely renders one or several such structures in their valley setting, possibly accompanied by terraced paddies or wooded slopes. Tokuriki's regional landscapes extend his meisho-e practice beyond the well-trafficked Kyoto and Fuji subjects into less-touristed northern locales, joining a postwar tendency among shin-hanga and sosaku-hanga artists to document vernacular architecture before its disappearance. Compositional treatment typically emphasizes the geometric weight of roof against sloping land, with subdued earth tones, selective bokashi in the sky, and crisp keyblock lines defining the timber framing of the gassho roofs.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Etchu Gokasan, Ishikawa was created by Tomikichiro Tokuriki (徳力富吉郎).