Designer: Tsuchiya Koitsu | Carver: Noriko Kawasaki | Printer: Yoko Ishikawa

Paper size: 24cm by 17cm | Enlargement | Shipping Code: [M] ? | Currency: $ / £ / €

Price: $ 150.00£ 92.50€ 100.00

Description: This is another in what is turning out to be a series of Mokuhankan reproductions of early shin-hanga prints. I has been 'reverse engineered' from the original pre-war design, with the assistance of a very rare and special piece of paper - one of the kyogo-zuri, the sheets that were made by the original publisher and designer, and which defined the carving of the colour blocks. It thus carries a very clear definition of the key lines of the original, and we used this to guide our production.

To create the full set of colour blocks needed for this design, we studied a great number of images of older versions printed over the years. The Doi Hanga Company - the original publishers - were never consistent in their control over the printers working for them, and as with all their productions, it is rare to find two old ones that match in colour tones and appearance. This has the benefit of giving us a lot of freedom in making such a reproduction, because with no clear single ‘master’ image, we are free to bring our own taste and experience to the work.

Our new version, while still being an honest version of Koitsu’s ‘vision’, was created by staff printer Yoko Ishikawa, and subsequent Mokuhankan printers who work on this project will for the most part follow her concept.

We are very happy to be able to bring this old design to life again, and hope that you will find this as attractive as we do!