Kotondo is best known for bijin-ga, but his complete oeuvre includes actor prints and other figure subjects. His small corpus of only 21 designs ensures that all authenticated period impressions carry collector interest and scarcity premiums.
A woman stands in the hazy moonlight of a spring night — Oboroharu, the "misty spring," a season-word (kigo) from haiku tradition evoking the particular soft indistinctness of spring evenings when the moon is veiled. Kotondo renders this atmosphere through bokashi gradations that suffuse the composition in pale, diffuse light. The woman's face tilts slightly upward, as though absorbing the moonlit air — a posture of quiet receptivity that places her within rather than apart from the atmospheric scene.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Hazy Moon in the Spring (Oboroharu) was created by Torii Kotondo (鳥居言人) in 1930.
Hazy Moon in the Spring (Oboroharu) uses Bokashi, on woodblock print.
Hazy Moon in the Spring (Oboroharu) was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1930).
Hazy Moon in the Spring (Oboroharu) depicts spring, moonlight, and night scenes.
