(Houseboat and moon)

Date:: c. 1854-1859
Medium:: Woodblock print
Source:: Minneapolis Institute of Art

Typical Price

Snow and night scenes traditionally command higher prices. Key value factors: For living or recently deceased artists, limited edition size and gallery representation drive value. Signed and numbered prints from smaller editions are most desirable.

Common examples: $100–$400
Good impressions: $400–$1,500
Premium/scarce: $1,500–$5,000

Description

Houseboat and Moon depicts a yakatabune (roofed pleasure boat) floating on still water beneath a luminous moon, a scene steeped in Edo-period leisure culture when wealthy merchants and artists would hire such boats for evening poetry gatherings and banquets on the Sumida River. The moon's reflection on the water doubles its presence, creating a vertical axis of light that anchors the composition. Kokei's woodblock rendering distills this nostalgic subject into clean forms, the dark hull of the houseboat silhouetted against silver water while the moon commands the upper register with quiet authority.