Urashima Taro Returning Home from the Palace of the Dragon King (Urashima Taro no ko kikoku ju Ryugujo no zu)

Date:: 1886
Medium:: Color woodblock print; oban diptych
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

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

"Urashima Taro Returning Home from the Palace of the Dragon King" (1886) depicts the fisherman of Japanese legend who was taken beneath the sea to the Dragon Palace, spent what seemed like a few days in supernatural splendor, and returned to find that hundreds of years had passed in the world above. Opening the jeweled box given him by the sea princess in violation of her warning, Urashima instantly aged and died. Yoshitoshi renders the moment of the fisherman's disoriented return, the turtle that carried him receding beneath the waves as he steps back into a world transformed by time.

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 Mythology Prints

Shamyris, Shôwa period, dated 1965?

Woodblock print

Arugori; Koronbusu no tamago (Allegory: Columbus's Egg) / Ichimoku-shu (First Thursday Collection, Vol 4)

Midas, Shôwa period, dated 1965?

Woodblock print

Windy Deity, Shôwa period, dated 1966

Woodblock print

Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Japanese Ghost and Yōkai Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

Urashima Taro Returning Home from the Palace of the Dragon King (Urashima Taro no ko kikoku ju Ryugujo no zu) was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in 1886.

Urashima Taro Returning Home from the Palace of the Dragon King (Urashima Taro no ko kikoku ju Ryugujo no zu) depicts mythology, architecture, and animals.