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 oboro spring — the misty, haze-softened spring evenings of Japanese poetry, when moonlight diffuses through atmospheric moisture into a general luminous glow. Kotondo renders this through characteristic bokashi gradations, the background dissolving from deep at top to pale below, the figure emerging from the atmospheric murk. This design was originally composed around 1932 and reproduced in the 1980s posthumous edition, preserving one of Kotondo's most atmospherically accomplished bijin-ga compositions.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
No. 3 - Misty Spring Moon - おぼろ春 was created by Torii Kotondo (鳥居言人) in 1932 1980s).
No. 3 - Misty Spring Moon - おぼろ春 uses Bokashi, on woodblock print.
No. 3 - Misty Spring Moon - おぼろ春 was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1932 1980s)).
No. 3 - Misty Spring Moon - おぼろ春 depicts spring, moonlight, and night scenes.
