Hiroshige · Sixty-odd Provinces · Inaba · Edo-period...

歌川広重 — UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE (1797–1858) Inaba Province: Karo and Koyama (因幡 加路小山, Inaba, Karo Koyama) From: Famous Places in the Sixty-odd Provinces (六十余州名所図会, Rokujūyoshū meisho zue) Technique: Woodblock print (mokuhanga), polychrome (nishiki-e) on Japanese washi Date: 1853 (Kaei 6), 12th month Publisher: Koshimuraya Heisuke (越村屋平助, Koshihei) Signature: Hiroshige hitsu (廣重筆) Format: Ōban tate-e (approx. 34 × 23 cm / 13.5 × 9 in.) CONDITION The colours are fairly well preserved and the impression reads well with some fading. The paper is firm and supple. The margins outside the image area are trimmed. Good overall. Please check the images carefully! The Place — Inaba's Great Lagoon Inaba was a province on the Sea of Japan coast, roughly the eastern half of today's Tottori Prefecture, and belonged to the San'indō circuit. The title names two places near the castle town of Tottori: Karo, a coastal village, and Koyama, the lagoon now called Koyama-ike. Koyama-ike formed behind coastal sand dunes. It has a circumference of about 18 km and five small islands, and it is the largest body of water in Japan that carries the name "pond" (ike). In the Edo period it served as a hunting ground for the lords of Tottori Castle, and local records describe "Eight Views of Koyama Lake," which shows it was already treated as a scenic spot. The Series — Hiroshige's Tour of Japan Hiroshige designed this series between 1853 and 1856 for the publisher Koshimuraya Heisuke. It has one view for each of the 68 provinces of old Japan, arranged by the ancient circuits from the Kinai to the Saikaidō, plus a view of Edo and a table of contents, for 70 sheets in total. It was his first large landscape series in the vertical format, which he used again shortly afterwards for One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. Hiroshige had not visited most of these provinces, so many designs were based on illustrated travel guidebooks of the period. Impressions of this sheet are held by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the British Museum, the MAK Vienna and the Waseda University Theatre Museum.

Estimate:£169.02

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