THE OLD MAN WHO MADE DEAD TREES BLOOM
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Publisher:
- Doi Sadaichi
- Edition:
- Published by Watanabe Shozaburo
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museums
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.
Hanasaka Jiisan — "The Old Man Who Makes Withered Trees Bloom" — is one of Japan's most beloved folktales, in which a kind elderly man uses the ashes of his faithful dog to cause dead plum trees to burst into blossom, while a wicked neighbor copies the ritual and is punished. Koitsu renders the tale's central miracle — the bare, winter-dead branches suddenly erupting in full bloom under the scattering ash — with a fairy-tale directness unusual in his work. The subject demonstrates his range beyond landscape into the rich territory of Japanese folk narrative.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
THE OLD MAN WHO MADE DEAD TREES BLOOM was created by Tsuchiya Koitsu (土屋光逸).
THE OLD MAN WHO MADE DEAD TREES BLOOM was published by Doi Sadaichi.
THE OLD MAN WHO MADE DEAD TREES BLOOM depicts trees.
