Shuho, Yamakawa

This print, bearing the artist's name as its title, likely represents either a self-published design or an untitled work catalogued under Shuho's name. Such attributions were common when prints entered Western collections without their original Japanese titles or when dealers used the artist's name as a placeholder identifier.

Regardless of the titling ambiguity, the oban woodblock print reflects Shuho's training under Ikeda Terukata and Ikeda Shoen, both prominent artists in the bijin-ga lineage. Shuho absorbed their emphasis on naturalistic figure rendering and accurate textile depiction before establishing his own practice within the shin-hanga publishing system. His prints were issued by major publishers who paired his designs with skilled carvers and printers, producing works that balanced artistic vision with the technical excellence that the collaborative shin-hanga process demanded.