Famous places in Tokyo, Takanawa: Picture of . Complete picture of a steam locomotive and railroad

Date:: 1871, 9th lunar month
Medium:: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper
Format:: Oban
Dimensions:: 36.2 × 24.8 cm
Source:: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Typical Price

Scarce or exceptional Yoshitoshi composition in fine condition: $1,500–$8,000
Good condition print: $400–$1,500
Later impression or common subject: $200–$600

Description

"Famous Places in Tokyo, Takanawa" (1871) celebrates the new steam railroad at Takanawa, the coastal district where Japan's first railway ran along the edge of Tokyo Bay before curving inland toward Shinbashi station. The print presents the locomotive as a marvel of the modern age, rendered in the traditional [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) style of woodblock printing, the visual conventions of old Japan being used to document the technologies that would soon make those very conventions obsolete. The scene is one of Yoshitoshi's most explicit engagements with Meiji modernization.

More Prints by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Shunkan Watching Enviously from Kikai Island as Yasuyori Returns to the Capitol after Being Unexpectedly Pardoned (Shunkan sozu Kikaigashima ni oite tamatama Yasuyori no shamen senbo kito no zu)

Looking as if She Wants to Go for a Walk: The Fashion of a Married Woman of the Meiji Era (Yūho ga shitasō, Meiji nenkan saikun no fūzoku), from the series Thirty-two Appearances of Fashion (Fūzoku sanjūni sō)

Slovenly (Shidaranasaso), from the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Women (Fuzoku sanjuniso)"

1888

Color woodblock print; oban

Four PM, from the series "Twenty-Four Hours in Shinbashi and Yanagibashi"

n.d.

Color woodblock print

More Urban Scenes Prints

A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo: Kiyonaga's Pipe (Edo zumi hyaku shoku: Kiyonaga no kiseru)

Woodblock print

View of Kabuki Theater from Matsuya (Ginza Matsuya yori Kabukiza), no. 3 from the series "Pictures of Ginza, First Series (Gashu Ginza dai isshu)"

1928

Color lithograph

Distant View of Mitsukoshi Movie Theater in Shinjuku from the Sixth Floor of Hoteiya (Hoteiya rokkai kara Shinjuku Mitsukoshi Musashi no kan enbo zu), no. 1 from the series "Scenery of Shinjuku (Gashu Shinjuku fukei)"

1930

Color lithograph

Spring Dusk at the Tōshō Shrine in Ueno

1948

Woodblock print, ink and color on paper

Frequently Asked Questions

Famous places in Tokyo, Takanawa: Picture of . Complete picture of a steam locomotive and railroad was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in 1871, 9th lunar month.

Famous places in Tokyo, Takanawa: Picture of . Complete picture of a steam locomotive and railroad depicts urban scenes, seascapes, and travel scenes, set at Tokyo.

Famous places in Tokyo, Takanawa: Picture of . Complete picture of a steam locomotive and railroad measures 36.2 × 24.8 cm (Oban format).