Chion-in (Sanmon) Temple Gate.
My favourite season is here at last although we haven’t had much spring sunshine here today, just a lot of rain. I like the spring, as do the Japanese who have good reason to celebrate when the cherry blossom is in bloom at this time of year. I had an idea of making of post of ukiyo-e prints devoted to cherry blossoms but this raised the question of where to begin…and where to stop when ukiyo-e.org lists nearly 1,800 prints on the subject. Instead of looking for a selection of prints by different artists this is a series by a single artist, the very adept Hiroshi Yoshida whose views of India were featured here last year. The Eight Views of Cherry Blossom date from 1935, and like most ukiyo-e prints there’s considerable tone and colour variation in each print in the series depending on the aging of the paper or the quality of the printing. All of these prints may be seen in lighter/darker copies on the print-selling sites.
Arashiyama.
Hirosaki Castle.
In a Temple Yard.
Sankeien Garden.
Yozakura in the Rain.
Avenue of Cherry Trees.
The Cherry Tree in Kawagoe.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Fourteen views of Himeji Castle
• One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji
• The art of Kato Teruhide, 1936–2015
• Fifteen ghosts and a demon
• Hiroshi Yoshida’s India
• The art of Hasui Kawase, 1883–1957
• The art of Paul Binnie
• Nineteen views of Zen gardens
• Ten views of the Itsukushima Shrine
• Charles Bartlett’s prints
• Sixteen views of Meoto Iwa
• Waves and clouds
• Yoshitoshi’s ghosts
• Japanese moons
• The Hell Courtesan
• Nocturnes
Just stumbled on your blog while looking for illustrations of Étienne-Louis Boullée. Can’t remember last time I saw a stand alone blog. I really like it. I’ll sure will add it to my bookmarks and will remember to come back.
On the topic of ukiyo-e there is a twitter account dedicated to them: https://x.com/JapanTraCul
It’s nice to see a new work every day.
Also I just found out about Gyotaku method of printing that Is absolutely fascinating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MtT5dCCEg8
Thanks, Tim, there’s still a few of us out here who prefer doing things this way. I might suggest that more people will adopt the habit in future but I’m not so sure, I think everyone is too addicted now to having follower counts and instant reactions to their latest thoughts.
I still have a Twitter account but only through inertia, I no longer use it to pick up tips to new things. Social media is something I prefer to avoid.