Railway Line at Takanawa (Takanawa tetsudō no zu)

Date:: Tenth month of 1871
Medium:: Right sheet from a woodblock print (nishiki-e) triptych; ink and color on paper
Format:: Oban triptych
Dimensions:: 36.7 × 25.2 cm
Source:: Harvard Art Museums

Typical Price

Complete triptych in excellent condition: $3,000–$15,000
Good condition triptych: $800–$3,000
Later impression: $300–$800

Description

"Railway Line at Takanawa" (1871) depicts the new steam locomotive on the Shinbashi-Yokohama railway, Japan's first railroad line, opened in September 1872. This sheet—the right panel of a [triptych](/glossary/triptych)—captures the train and its passengers in the Meiji period's first flush of modernization, the Western technology rendered in the [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) woodblock style of the Edo tradition. Yoshitoshi was among several artists who documented the visual novelty of Japan's industrial transformation, juxtaposing traditional pictorial conventions with entirely new subject matter.

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

Railway Line at Takanawa (Takanawa tetsudō no zu) was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in Tenth month of 1871.

Railway Line at Takanawa (Takanawa tetsudō no zu) depicts urban scenes, seascapes, and travel scenes.

Railway Line at Takanawa (Takanawa tetsudō no zu) measures 36.7 × 25.2 cm (Oban triptych format).