Nikko 5 Story Pagoda

Medium:: Woodblock print
Format:: Oban
Publisher:: Doi Sadaichi
Edition:: Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
Source:: Japanese Art Open Database

Typical Price

Koitsu's daytime landscapes and non-nocturnal scenes are less common on the primary market but still reflect his mastery of atmosphere and color. Values have risen steadily over the past decade.

Later/posthumous printings: $300–$1,000
Lifetime editions, good condition: $1,000–$3,000
Rare subjects or first editions: $3,000–$6,000

Description

The five-story pagoda of Toshogu Shrine at Nikko, one of Japan's most lavishly decorated Edo-period structures, appears here in another of Koitsu's Nikko treatments — the vertical shaft of the pagoda rising from its forested setting against a sky rendered in characteristic [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation. The pagoda's unusual engineering, which allows the upper floors to sway independently in earthquakes, is invisible in the image's composed beauty, but the structure's survival over centuries gives it the weight of proven resilience.