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 darkness of a winter night, the bare branches of a plum tree in bloom behind her — white flowers against the deep night sky in the brief season when plum blossoms precede snow's final retreat. The title Yoru no Ume — "plum blossoms at night" — names a visual experience unique to the Japanese winter: the sight of delicate white flowers open in cold darkness, their fragrance intensified by the chill. Kotondo renders the nocturnal atmosphere through deep bokashi gradations.
Woodblock print
Teradomari no yau
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
March 1933
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Plum Blossoms at Night — 夜の梅 was created by Torii Kotondo (鳥居言人) in 1934.
Plum Blossoms at Night — 夜の梅 uses Bokashi, on woodblock print.
Plum Blossoms at Night — 夜の梅 was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1934).
Plum Blossoms at Night — 夜の梅 depicts night scenes and food & drink.
