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.
Steam (yuge) rises from bathwater, enveloping the woman before it in warm vapor. This October 1929 print renders the subject through ink and color on paper, capturing the sensory richness of the bathhouse — its warmth, its wet air, the softening of the body in hot water. The steam serves as both subject and atmosphere, its rising columns providing vertical structure to a composition that might otherwise be entirely horizontal. Kotondo brings to the subject the same quiet attention he gave to women dressing, combing their hair, or applying cosmetics.
Mutsu Tsuta onsen
1919
Color woodblock print; oban
1943
Color woodblock print
Autumn 1920
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
1924
Color woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Vapor was created by Torii Kotondo (鳥居言人) in October 1929.
Vapor was published by Watanabe Shozaburo (October 1929).
Vapor depicts nude, bijin-ga, and daily life.
Vapor measures 41 × 26.2 cm (Oban format).
