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 ties or adjusts her obi sash, the 1929 Sash design rendered here in a first version. The act of tying the obi — an elaborate procedure requiring the full extension of the arms behind the back — was a subject that combined the particular beauty of raised arms with the practical intimacy of self-dressing. Kotondo renders the figure from the most compositionally revealing angle, the arms and sash creating dynamic diagonal lines against the stillness of the body.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Sash- Obi- V1 was created by Torii Kotondo (鳥居言人) in 1929.
Sash- Obi- V1 was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (1929).
Sash- Obi- V1 depicts figures, bijin-ga, and daily life.
