Title Sheet for the series Eimei nijūhachi-shūku

Date:: Meiji period, 1867
Medium:: Unmatted ukiyo-e woodblock print in ōban format; ink and colors on paper
Format:: Oban
Dimensions:: 35.4 × 24.1 cm
Source:: Harvard Art Museums

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

"Title Sheet for the Series Eimei nijūhachi-shūku" (1867) is the organizing cover print for one of Yoshitoshi's most important early series—"Twenty-Eight Famous Murders with Verse," a collection of prints depicting notorious crimes and violent deaths accompanied by kyoka (comic verse). The title sheet establishes the series' tone: the combination of gruesome subject matter and comic poetry created an unsettling aesthetic of darkly humorous transgression that shocked contemporary audiences. The series is now recognized as one of the defining achievements of the muzan-e genre.

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 Figures Prints

Shamyris, Shôwa period, dated 1965?

Woodblock print

Celebrating the Good Harvest: Felicitations for a Thousand Ages (Nôhônen, Chiyo no kotobuki)

Woodblock print

Midas, Shôwa period, dated 1965?

Woodblock print

Gundari Myôô, Shôwa period, dated 1962

Woodblock print

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Japanese Ghost and Yōkai Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

Title Sheet for the series Eimei nijūhachi-shūku was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in Meiji period, 1867.

Title Sheet for the series Eimei nijūhachi-shūku depicts figures, calligraphy, and warriors.

Title Sheet for the series Eimei nijūhachi-shūku measures 35.4 × 24.1 cm (Oban format).